Izmir Urban Culture and Development Platform (IZGEP), with her members, some of who are former ministers, bureaucrats and businessmen, visited DEPARK, Turkey’s only thematic technopark and Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center (iBG-izmir) located on Dokuz Eylul University Inciraltı Health Campus.

The Platform Members had the chance to make on-site observations on the huge investments and projects, and were given extensive information by their hosts; Dokuz Eylül University Vice President and Head of Depark Prof. Dr. Murat Özgören, iBG-Izmir Director Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ozturk, Health Technopark Coordinator Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adile Öniz and DEPARK General Manager Necip Özbey.

The members of IZGEP were shown the establishment of the infrastructure of the practices representing the first such crucial efforts in national scale that would advance the Turkish economy by bringing information and science together with industry and society.

Chairman of IZGEP Ali Ulvi Pug, and former State Minister Gonen who spoke on behalf of the Platform members stated that “In our country, industry and business do not benefit enough from the universities. Today, we watched with great excitement and saw that Dokuz Eylul University has gone beyond its fences of the campus, reaching the masses, in an effort to keep up with the terms of the competition. We are very excited and pleased to see that we are competing with the global powers in the area of research. We should thank these distinguished scientists for their dedication. We hope to see the reflections of the scientific knowledge produced here will meet the needs of the health sector, the men on the street, the farmers on their lands, and the craftsmen working with their machines in their workshop. We, as a platform, consider all the responsibilities as a duty on our part in this effort.

iBG-izmir, Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center Director Prof. Dr. Mehmet Öztürk summarized the activities they carry out to prepare the center for global competition as follows:
“With the sense of high responsibility, we are dealing with the establishment of such a research center that is allocated the largest amount of investigation on research by the government. iBG-izmir is the largest research center in Turkey expanding to a 20 thousand m2 area. We are planning to fill such a large and qualified area with people of high quality. This center is being established to meet the innovative expectations of the country particularly in health sector.  At iBG-izmir we are planning to convey research on many basic and translational fields such as Differentiation & Cancer, Metabolism & Disorders, Biological and Cell Therapies, Immunity & Infectious Diseases, Neuroscience & CNS Diseases, Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine, and give services such as, Biobanking, Recombinant protein and monoclonal Ab production, Flowcytometry and Cell sorting, Pathology, in vitro & in vivo imaging Technologies, Vivarium and genetically modified disease models, BSL3 & ABSL3 facilities for high risk pathogens, GLP, biologicals, medical products & diagnostic kits analysis laboratories, GMP facilities for therapeutic protein production and for therapeutic cell production & tissue Technologies. Whatsmore, to work on high risk viruses and pathogens, our labs with high safety are under construction. Currently, we are managing all these activities with a 70-people group using the quarter of our facility. At the end of 2017, we are planning to have hired almost  500 people. iBG-izmir, designed to be the most effective research center in the geography ranging from Spain to India, is opening its doors on September 9, 2015 with an international grand opening. As iBG-izmir, our target date is 2023, the centennial of the Turkish Republic. In the meanwhile, we are aiming to become the most effective research center of the area in health and life sciences.

Guests that visited:     

Prof. Dr. Tuğrul Pırnar (Hacettepe, Bilkent and Yaşar University former President, Akın Gönen, (Former State Minister), Dr. Ali Nail Kubalı (Danmark Honorary Consul, Economist, Writer), Güngör Kaftancı, Dr. Ertan Ülkü, (Former State Planning Specialist), Prof. Dr. Ergun Aybars, Yaşar Ürük (Former Director of Izmir State Theatres, director, writer), Kenan Gökkaya (Former Director of İzmir State Symphony Orchestra), Ramiz Eronat (Businessman), Şevket Eğriboz (Former Manager), Oktay Karal (Former Manager), Aysun Kale (Chemist), Hamdi Tanık (Businessman), Tuncel Güloğlu (Retired Colonel), Dr. M. Oktar Güloğlu, Savaş Ünlü (Writer), Semih Adıyaman, Dr. Taner Orhunöz, Mustafa Kapancıoğlu (Businessman), Avukat Ulvi Puğ (İZGEP Chairman – İzmir National Library Foundation Chairman).