Developing prominent national projects for the Turkish defense and aerospace industry, Teknopark Istanbul further increases the physical facilities it offers to startups and technology companies.

The foundation for third stage buildings was laid in the center, which provided $98 million of export support to the national economy during the five years it served the Turkish innovation ecosystem. With the new buildings to be commissioned next year, the technopark's employment figure is expected to increase from the current level of 5,000 to 9,000.

Teknopark Istanbul General Manager Bilal Topçu told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Teknopark Istanbul is home to more than 300 companies engaged in high technology developments in the critical fields, such as defense, aerospace, maritime, energy and health sciences.

He said that the technopark, which has achieved close to $24 million in technology exports and provides employment for 5,000 people, is working on more than 1,000 national projects, adding they plan to commission the third stage at the end of 2020. "Following completion of the structures that we laid for the foundation in Teknopark Istanbul, we will increase our employment from 5,000 to 9,000," he said. "Established in December 2013 with over $98 million in exports in the last five years, Teknopark Istanbul integrates the research capabilities, qualified workforce and experience of regional industry, especially the defense industry in Istanbul and surrounding universities."

Topçu explained that Istanbul Technopark is trying to improve physical opportunities in addition to technological opportunities to further their contribution to the Turkish entrepreneurial ecosystem. "We maintain our growth trend to support more companies and contribute to Turkey's national technology move," he said. "We laid the foundation for the third stage buildings of Teknopark Istanbul. The construction area of the project, located on a large land of 28,566 square meters, totals 113,000 square meters. We have planned 10,000 square meters of this area as an incubation center."

Bilal Topçu said that the third stage buildings in Teknopark Istanbul were built in accordance with the LEED Gold certificate. "Each of the third stage building blocks, which are designed to be environmentally friendly and energy-efficient in compliance with this certificate, are designed to be self-sufficient in terms of energy production, wastewater reuse and rainwater recovery," he added.

Since the Plain Construction concept, which prioritizes current and contemporary applications and ensures continuity of workflow, was adopted in the construction processes for third stage structures, Topçu said that management of third stage structures was carried out with the Agile Project Management approach to achieve the highest business value with effective timing.

Topçu said a Model-based Facility Operation was aimed in the period of use of the new structures. "In line with this objective, design processes were completed for the Building Information Modeling (BIM) platform. In contrast to conventional design methods, it is possible to transfer information arising from the design and construction processes to the usage/operation period without loss of data on the BIM platform," he said.

Listing the characteristics of the blocks in the third stage, Topçu said that Block A, with a total area of 32,407 square meters, has two separate wings, including Incubation Center and research and development (R&D) offices, since laboratories and prototype workshops were designed to be used for incubation companies in the block. "We anticipate that the wing of the block with R&D offices will be used by newly graduated incubation companies," he stressed.

He explained that B1-B2 R&D blocks, designed as twin blocks in Block B with a total area of 65,105 square meters, are joined at the ground level, Topçu said a 900-square-meter foyer area, a 1,100-square-meters eating and drinking area and a 600-square-meter multipurpose hall with a capacity for 500 people were designed in this area. "Block C has an area of 15,795 square meters. Maltepe University will be used as an R&D Building. We plan to have R&D offices and laboratory areas as part of the block," he concluded.