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On July 3, Türkiye’s Ministry of Industry and Technology unveiled the “Tech Entrepreneurship Badge”, a new policy instrument designed to formally recognize technology companies that meet contemporary innovation standards. Unlike the traditional models where classification depended largely on whether a company was physically located in a technology park of the universities, the new badge shifts the focus to the actual work being done as an important structural reform in how tech firms are evaluated and supported in the country.
“The initiative addresses a core challenge in Continental European legal systems like Türkiye’s, where sector-specific government support often requires formal legal recognition,” said policy entrepreneur and author Ussal Sahbaz. “Without that recognition, tech firms have historically been locked out of flexible labor policies and public procurement opportunities tailored to innovation.”
Until now, companies qualified for tech-based incentives primarily by being based in communication with the university innovation fields. This approach ignored the functional realities of many startups, especially in a post-pandemic world where remote work, cloud-based infrastructure, and geographically dispersed teams are the norm, and had the independent initiatives excluded.
The Tech Entrepreneurship Badge allows the board of the Tech Entrepreneurship Council of the Ministry to decouple location from legitimacy, enabling tech startups and scale-ups to benefit from innovation-related support based on merit and actual activity rather than physical premises. This opens the door for a more inclusive and representative tech ecosystem.
Previously, Türkiye announced the launch of the TURCORN 100 initiative. This effort aims to identify and nurture the country’s most promising startups with the potential to reach billion-dollar valuations, colloquially referred to as “unicorns.”
TURCORN 100 introduces a tailor-made support model, emphasizing bespoke strategies instead of one-size-fits-all policies. By aligning public resources with private sector insight, the government seeks to build globally competitive startups through mentoring, financial instruments, regulatory facilitation, and access to international markets.
The badge now can make recipient companies an eligible candidate for consideration in the TURCORN 100 list.
To steer these ambitious initiatives, Türkiye has established the Tech Entrepreneurship Council, bringing together top-level officials and experts from both the public and private sectors. The Council includes deputy ministers from the Ministry of Industry and Technology, Ministry of Treasury and Finance, and Ministry of Trade, along with heads of key innovation and finance bodies such as Türkiye’s Scientific and Technological Research Council (TUBITAK), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (KOSGEB), and the Capital Markets Board (SPK).
Interestingly, private sector and civil society stakeholders will have a larger representation in the Council than government institutions. This structural choice underlines the government’s intent to foster a participatory and co-created entrepreneurial landscape, with the public sector playing a facilitator rather than a dominant role.
The launch of the Tech Entrepreneurship Badge and the TURCORN 100 program marks a pivotal shift in Türkiye’s innovation policy. By modernizing classification systems and institutionalizing dialogue between government and industry, these efforts signal a more agile, responsive, and forward-looking approach to supporting tech entrepreneurship.
For international observers, investors, and entrepreneurs looking at Türkiye, these developments offer a glimpse into a country that is recalibrating its startup strategy with global benchmarks in mind as they are part of a broader strategic architecture, Türkiye’s National Technology Initiative.
By prioritizing areas where Türkiye is import-dependent and directing support toward innovation capacity, the initiative seeks to strengthen domestic technological resilience. By aligning efforts, the initiatives aim to reduce bureaucratic friction and enhance accessibility, particularly for firms working in critical sectors such as health, chemicals, mobility, and digital transformation by the means of boosting technological entrepreneurship programs.
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