Innovation & VC | Tüpraş

Tüpraş Ventures

Open Innovation

Intrapreneurship Efforts

Cooperation Development

Innovation

At Tüpraş, we consider intrapreneurship, open innovation programs, start-up technologies, joint project efforts, and start-up investments as integral parts of our Strategic Transformation Plan and 2050 carbon-neutral goal. Since 2017, we have been working in our innovation focus areas, set out in accordance with company strategies.

With the Idea Unit Intrapreneurship Program, we instill a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across the company and create value in a sustainable way. We organize internal and external communication and training events to bolster cultural transformation, systematically generate value, and increase competence.

We conduct our open innovation efforts in collaboration with domestic and international entrepreneurship ecosystems to cooperate, co-cultivate, and co-create value with ventures that align with Tüpraş's strategies. Relevant departments continue to team up with entrepreneurs through continuous surveys of the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

We are making firm advances in venture capital with Tüpraş Ventures.

We took another step in venture capital that will guide the transformation of the energy industry. We established Tüpraş Ventures to capitalize on new technologies and opportunities by investing in line with our innovation focus areas in Turkey, Europe, and the United States.

Tüpraş Ventures was founded to invest in technology initiatives for future energy systems, form strategic partnerships, and strengthen the ecosystem. It invests in domestic and international sustainable refining, biofuels, carbon management, zero-carbon electric, green hydrogen, smart information technologies, Industry 4.0, energy efficiency, the environment, and recycling and waste management. It also implements new business models and realizes potential partnerships.

Tüpraş Ventures

Tüpraş plans to invest $50 million in venture capital by 2030, focusing on new technologies and business models in energy transformation under its Strategic Transformation Plan.

We have cooperated with countless domestic and international start-ups in recent years. We have also participated in numerous domestic and international start-up programs and invested in Emerald Technology Ventures. In 2020, Tüpraş signed a long-term cooperation agreement with the Emerald Industrial Innovation Fund, an international venture capital fund, to invest in new technology companies in the U.S. and Europe. In this context, the company began investing as a limited partner under Emerald. The company has invested in 14 start-ups, one of which resulted in a successful exit.

Tüpraş Ventures aims to become an early adopter of solutions by finding innovative solutions to all Tüpraş's operational needs and forming strategic partnerships for new growth areas in energy transformation. Tüpraş Ventures was formed primarily for co- and direct investment. Tüpraş Ventures will continue its foreign investment in technologies that offer energy transformation, sustainability, and operational excellence.

Furthering the open innovation efforts that have been carried out since 2017, Tüpraş Ventures was established in 2022 to directly invest in start-ups.

Further details can be found here: https://tuprasventures.com/

Inowhatif 360 Program

Inowhatif 360 Program's goal is to gain operational benefit as an early adopter of initiatives that can solve problems and fulfill needs in field processes related to refinery sustainability and efficiency. The Program also aims to connect Tüpraş with innovations in the industry.

The Inowhatif 360 Evaluation Team has been formed with representatives from all facilities to promote the program and foster effective cooperation. The team supports the co-development and implementation of innovative solutions in the operational processes.

Opportunities Provided to Start-Ups

The start-ups that offer feasible solutions in innovation focus areas have the opportunity to respond to real-life needs and co-develop and cooperate with expert teams from Turkey’s leading industrial institution on verifying solution scenarios through different models. Products of start-ups with successful PoCs/demos are purchased, and all cooperation models are evaluated. The cooperation varies from PoC/demo efforts to actively investing in the start-up.

Innovation Focus Areas

Asset Management Technologies

Energy Efficiency and Heat Waste Solutions

Sustainability Technologies

Predictive Maintenance and Sensor Technologies

Machine Learning and Data Analysis Solutions

Image Processing Technology and Anomaly Detection

AR/VR and Wearable Technologies

Refinery and Unit-Based Optimization and Control

Occupational Health and Safety Technologies

Intrapreneurship Efforts

Tüpraş supports projects that will open up new growth areas and markets. Under the intrapreneurship program, Tüpraş employees commercialize their creative and innovative ideas with start-up methodologies. The process includes intrapreneurship teams, intrapreneurship methodologies-focused training, venture mentorship, and upper management sponsorships. Design thinking is used along with lean start-up and agile methodology. Of the five intrapreneurship programs, three have yielded internal applications and commercial products.

Innovation Portal: The Idea Unit Portal

Launched in 2017, the Idea Unit Portal is a platform that aims to spread innovation culture and allows employees with innovative ideas to access entrepreneurship content.

Discoverer's Club and Innovation Volunteers

With the goal of integrating innovative thinking into corporate culture and instilling intrapreneurship, select teams foster innovation awareness, strengthen their ability to implement innovative methods, and participate in innovation project teams by supporting open innovation efforts.

Internal Mentoring Program

Selected employees from the intrapreneurship program support intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship projects as internal mentors. They also take part in other internal events, idea production workshops, and ecosystem events, often as panelists and speakers on various platforms, as well as tackling intrapreneurship program processes from all angles.

Cooperation Development

Innovation in Young Minds and Women Enterprise Program

With the Innovation in Young Minds and Women Enterprise Program, we aimed to raise entrepreneurial awareness in students of Batman University and help them participate more actively in the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The program started with a seminar, Basics of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, at Batman University in 2022. The participants, 40 students selected from juniors and seniors who applied for the program, received intensive entrepreneurship training.

The potential entrepreneurs in the program had the opportunity to develop their ideas thanks to mentorship and training on lean start-up and innovative business models. Tüpraş prepared the unique program curriculum, and Tüpraş's innovation team provided all seminars and training without any external support. Additionally, Tüpraş's internal mentors offered mentorship to Batman University students.

Here2Next Platform

Tüpraş is one of the founding institutions of the Here2Next platform, which aims to highlight the added value created by corporate-start-up cooperation. The Here2Next platform was established by nine institutions that are leaders in their industry to highlight the added value created by the cooperation of domestic and international companies and start-ups, promote best industrial practices, and share knowledge. The platform seeks to promote and support institutions that already work with or have the potential to work with start-ups to organize their awareness efforts, business processes and methods to accommodate the needs of the start-ups.

Turkish Entrepreneurs Platform

Tüpraş is a member of the Turkish Entrepreneurs Platform, which was founded to improve interinstitutional learning, raise awareness of successful practices, and promote systematic applications of intrapreneurship.