American multinational corporation technology company Cisco Systems Inc. announced Thursday that work has officially commenced for its 10th Innovation Center in Istanbul in early 2018 to accelerate the pace of digital innovation in Turkey.

The center, to be located in Istanbul Technical University's (İTÜ) Arı Teknokent, will be 4500-square-feet and serve as a part of a network of Cisco Innovation Centers worldwide.

"We are thrilled to establish the Cisco Innovation Center Istanbul in our technology park because this one-of-a-kind facility will enrich our ecosystem, making it an even more attractive environment for startups and businesses," said Kenan Çolpan, the general manager of ITU ARI Teknokent.

Cisco's innovation center in Istanbul will act as a platform of collaboration, bringing together communities of government organizations, customers, and partners, as well as start-ups, accelerators, universities, research communities and industry collaborators.

The U.S.-based tech giant said the center will tackle the most pressing real-world challenges with innovative and high-tech solutions while taking Turkey's priorities into account.

With this center, the company also aims to support Turkey's public and private partnerships and investments in the areas of logistics, transportation, and manufacturing, and co-develop applications such as paperless warehousing, hyperlocation, and virtual wearables.

Stating that they were pleased to work alongside Turkey to develop logistics, transportation, and energy management solutions "for today and tomorrow," John Kern, Cisco Supply Chain Operations senior vice president and Turkey executive sponsor, said their aim "is to merge the strengths of the Turkish economy, Turkish talent, and Cisco technology," while helping to transform Turkey in the digital era.

Cenk Kıvılcım, the Cisco Turkey General Manager, said the center "will offer Turkey's brightest and most talented people an opportunity to be bold with their ideas."

Cisco has more than 100 Networking Academies and has trained more than 60,000 students in Turkey.

Founded in 1984, Cisco built its business around routing hardware but with the growth of cloud computing, started to focus on business software tools.