Dr. Bülent Gedikli, Board Member of KARDEMİR A.Ş., and Dr. Hüseyin Soykan, General Manager of KARDEMİR A.Ş., visited OSTİM Organized Industrial Zone and OSTİM Technical University. During the visit, a cooperation protocol was signed between KARDEMİR and OSTİM Technical University. The protocol, covering R&D and Project Studies, Integration of the Teaching Process, and Business Applications and Entrepreneurship Project Courses, was signed by Rector Prof. Dr. Murat Yülek on behalf of OSTİM Technical University and General Manager Dr. Hüseyin Soykan on behalf of KARDEMİR A.Ş.
“KARDEMİR should be located in Ostim Technopark”
During the first part of their OSTİM program, the guests received information at the OSTİM Organized Industrial Zone. The delegation met with Orhan Aydın, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of OSTİM Technical University and Chairman of the OSTİM Board of Directors, and was briefed on the production, education, and export activities in the region. Orhan Aydın, pointing out that the steel sector is one of the main elements of the economy, invited KARDEMİR, a member of the Anatolian Rail Transportation Systems Cluster (ARUS), to establish a presence in the Ostim Technopark.
Orhan Aydın stated, “As part of regional development efforts, we have created a clustering model where companies, educational institutions, and the public sector come together. KARDEMİR, one of our country's long-established industrial companies, is an important member of ARUS. Ostim Technopark is a structure jointly owned by 7 universities. It operates within the industrial campus. We are establishing a multi-purpose workshop in the technopark so that entrepreneurial firms can create prototypes. KARDEMİR A.Ş. must also have a place in Ostim Technopark.”
Comprehensive protocol
The KARDEMİR delegation, at its second stop in OSTİM, met with the Rector of OSTİM Technical University, Prof. Dr. Murat Yülek, and signed a cooperation protocol. Within the framework of this comprehensive protocol, KARDEMİR's R&D Directorate will identify and share planned projects with the university. Another point of the cooperation step allows for the development of joint project ideas to benefit from national and international public institution and organization-supported funds. The protocol also allows the parties to cooperate within the scope of the TÜBİTAK Industrial Doctorate Program.
In the section on Integration of the Teaching Process, the following points were decided upon: the creation of a vocational school curriculum specifically for the iron and steel sector, university academics providing technical training in areas needed by the organization, and KARDEMİR's employees with doctorates teaching courses at the university in their areas of expertise.
The most experienced company in Turkish industry and the newest university in higher education will also collaborate under the title of Business Applications and Entrepreneurship Project Course. Accordingly, university associate degree students in their 4th semester and undergraduate students in their 8th semester will take on tasks related to Business Applications on topics determined by KARDEMİR and present a graduation project. Within the scope of OSTİM Technical University's Entrepreneurship Project Course, it is envisioned that a year-end competition will be organized related to KARDEMİR's field, where project teams will present and be awarded prizes for their projects prepared on the determined topic and content.
“The first collaboration between a university and industry”
KARDEMİR A.Ş. General Manager Dr. Hüseyin Soykan stated that this will be the first time they have collaborated with a university within the industry. Soykan's assessment of the protocol is as follows: “This will be the first time we have collaborated with a university within the industry. We have initiated collaborations with Karabük University and METU (Middle East Technical University). From new product development to the production of import-substituting steels in Turkey, from conducting R&D projects to benefiting from technopark services, we will be pleased to facilitate the path from the university's intellect to the industry. May it be auspicious.”
OSTİM Technical University Rector Prof. Dr. Murat Yülek also stated that they were pleased to have signed a cooperation agreement with KARDEMİR A.Ş., a leading company in the iron and steel industry. Yülek said, "We hope to achieve successful results in many areas, especially R&D."
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