Bridging southeastern Europe and west Asia, Turkey is home to a vibrant — and ambitious — startup ecosystem. The country boasts six unicorns, including Europe’s most funded speedy grocery startup Getir, but its government has a lofty goal to have 100 unicorns by 2030.
One sector which could help Turkey meet its aspiration is aviation. Its national flag carrier, Turkish Airlines, flies to more countries than any other airline in the world.
To showcase the future crop of Turkish aviation startups, TAV Airports Holding, a Turkish airport operation and services firm which is part of Groupe ADP, one of the world’s largest airport operators, held an Airport Innovation Day on 25 October in Ankara Esenboğa Airport where startups could pitch for prizes.
From innovations to decarbonise airport activities to solutions to streamline the passenger experience and optimise airport operations, here are some of the Turkish startups aiming for the sky.
Ones to watch
For Franck Mereyde, executive board member and chair of the executive committee at TAV Airports and one of the judges at Ankara’s Airport Innovation Day, airports hold a big opportunity for startups to provide solutions for a range of problems.
An airport is like a city, we have everything to manage.
“An airport is like a city, we have everything to manage. We have waste, we have energy, we have water issues,” he says. “We have a lot of needs.”
One of these needs is maintaining machinery. For instance, US airline Delta says it has over 400k individual pieces of equipment which all need to be serviced regularly.
To detect failures in machinery months before they occur, end-to-end predictive maintenance platform Sensemore, an Istanbul-based startup and winner of the Airport Innovation Day, uses AI to respond to user input, analyse data and make decisions. According to the company, it can reduce maintenance costs by 25% and carbon emissions by 15%. Its customers include Ford and Siemens.
“We aim to automise all the decision making processes,” says Can Aksu, Sensemore’s chief growth officer. “We decrease costs, we make operations run smoothly and make operations run more reliably.”
Another need from airports is being able to assist disabled people who are travelling. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) found that 3.45m passengers received assistance at UK airports in 2022.
Istanbul-based visual support platform Assistbox, which took second place at the Airport Innovation Day, provides accessible video call solutions for disabled passengers, such as a sign language call centre. It is used by over 60 brands, including, Adidas, AXA and Bosch
“Assistbox aims to break down the barriers for disabled people in the world,” says Aliye Yılmaz, a business development manager at Assistbox. “Airports are pivotal areas and need accessibility.”
Greener airports
In addition to minimising costs and streamlining customer experience, airports are under increasing scrutiny to reduce their carbon emissions. In 2022, aviation made up 2% of global energy-related emissions — 13.9% of transport emissions in the EU.
The demand for sustainable solutions is growing rapidly, and airports are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprints.
While planes themselves are the biggest emitters, airports impact the environment in a number of ways, including noise pollution and producing waste. “Sustainability is crucial for us,” says Mereyde.
Istanbul-based waste management startup Waste Log, the third-place startup at Ankara’s Airport Innovation Day, is tackling recycling.
“Our startup aims to support the recycling of waste that cannot be sorted at the source and is difficult to access in airports,” says Ertug Sargut, Waste Log’s cofounder. “By doing so, we help reduce costs and minimise environmental harm.”
To sort waste at the source, Sargut says Waste Log provides real-time monitoring and analysis of waste using data analytics.
“The demand for sustainable solutions is growing rapidly, and airports are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprints,” says Sargut. “We hope to work with TAV Airports to implement our solution in their facilities and co-develop new sustainability initiatives for the aviation industry.”
Scaling up
For Sargut, leading a Turkish startup as the ecosystem grows around him is exciting.
All over Turkey, the quality of engineering and human resources is really good.
“The startup ecosystem in Turkey is rapidly growing, becoming a significant hub for tech-driven innovation,” he says. “Projects centred around sustainability and smart technologies are at the heart of this growth.”
Aksu adds that while there are lots of positives about the Turkish startup ecosystem, having more options to commercialise innovations would help boost it further. As the first prize winner, Sensemore will get the opportunity to work with TAV Airports, while the second prize winner, Assist Box, will be mentored by TAV Airports.
“All over Turkey, the quality of engineering and human resources is really good, and Turkish people in general are really innovative, but definitely we need some improvements on the commercial side,” Aksu says.
Mereyde says this is where collaboration with startups is “win-win”: TAV Airports need new ideas, while startups need help scaling up and entering the market.
“If we find a good match with a startup, we can easily at one airport do a proof of concept allowing us to demonstrate [it] and if it works, we can scale very quickly,” he says. “We are working with over 120 airports worldwide and our partners and competitors will look at what we are doing.”
Groupe ADP’s Airport Innovation Days continue with a competition in Amman, Jordan, on 6 November and a competition in Paris, France, on 4 December. For more information click here.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/turkey-unicorns-aviation-brnd/
