The excitement of the semi-finals was experienced in the TechXtile Start-Up Challenge, which aims to bring new entrepreneurs and useful projects to the textile and ready-to-wear sector by UTİB. The 16 entrepreneurs who passed the eliminations in the program, which aims to spread the R&D and innovation culture in the textile sector, will compete in the finals on December 21 to be in the top three.
The finalists of the TechXtile Start-Up Challenge marathon, Turkey’s most important entrepreneurship program, which was held for the fourth time this year under the auspices of Uludağ Textile Exporters’ Association (UTİB), were announced.
A total of 74 projects applied and were evaluated in two categories, Level-Up and Scale-Up, and 29 candidates who passed the pre-selection made presentations to the Evaluation Board, which included leading figures in the sector and university faculty members, in the semi-finals. As a result of the evaluation, 8 projects from each category were entitled to compete in the finals.
‘A CONTINUOUSLY LIVING ENTREPRENEURSHIP PLATFORM’
UTİB Board of Directors Chair Pınar Taşdelen Engin, who also expressed their happiness with the intense interest shown in the program, said, “Applications came from 22 different provinces to our program. The majority of the applied projects consist of fields such as artificial intelligence, smart textiles, ecological textiles, design, medical textiles, sustainability. When we look at the distribution of applications by province, we see that the majority came from Istanbul, Izmir and Bursa. It is a pleasing picture to see that our candidates have caught up with the world agenda and participated by producing projects on this subject.”
THEY WILL SWEAT IN THE GRAND FINALE ON DECEMBER 21
In the meeting moderated by Project Coordinator Ufuk Batum, candidates explained their projects and answered questions. As a result of the evaluation made by the jury members, a total of 16 projects, 8 each from Level-Up and Scale-Up categories, advanced to the finals. Candidates who will sweat for the grand finale on December 21 will attend the final trainings after the ‘Mentoring Process’ training given by Program Coordinator Ufuk Batum.
LEVEL-UP CATEGORY FINALIZED PROJECTS:
1. Amazon Bra
2. Vegan Leather Production from Apple Wastes
3. Materix Clean Textile Antibacterial, Hydrophobic & Photocatalytic Nano Textile Coating
4. Fashion- AI Based Shopping App
5. Virtual Clothing Mirror
6. Swatchloop: AI Based Sustainable Waste Management Digital Platform
7. Taggle
8. Authorized Tailor
SCALE-UP CATEGORY FINALIZED PROJECTS:
1. Activewear 2.0- Performance Based, New Generation Smart Sportswear
2. Wearable Thermometer and Health Tracking App
3. Heated Jacket
4. Blue Fuel
5. Phoenix Energy
6. ProMeta
7. Star
8. Wear’s
