İstanbul Sanayi Odası

Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI) is established in 1952 by law, and membership is compulsory for every industrial company in Istanbul. ICI is the largest chamber and one of the most essential representatives of the industry in Turkey with its member base of over 22.000 in 2022.

ICI acts as a bridge between public institutions and the private sector to increase the competitiveness of manufacturing industry companies and raise their technology levels within the framework of current policies and global trade rules. ICI leads to industrial companies in the areas of digital transformation, green agreements, future professions, entrepreneurship and innovation, environment and society-oriented growth, and the place of women in the industry.

Some of the projects and works carried out by ICI:

ICI has been both coordinating and partnering in several international projects funded by the EU programmes (Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, COSME, Enterprise Europe Network, etc.) and national projects supported by Istanbul Regional Development Agency (ISTKA) in the topics of digitalisation, innovation, circular economy and vocational education and training (VET).

ICI is part of European Enterprise Network (EEN) since 2008 that offers single point of contact services to SMEs on EU legislation, foreign trade, technology, and digitalization in Istanbul region. ICI supports digital and green transition of SMEs by taking a client-centric approach and provide specialized and tailored-made services and support to SMEs to create access to local and/or global value chains.

ICI established Sustainability Platform with participation of 50 stakeholders representing public institutions, industrial companies, universities, financial corporations, civil society organisations and consultancy companies to build partnerships and cooperate with relevant organisations and institutions to assist SMEs to become more economically, environmentally and socially sustainable. 

ICI promotes environmental protection, more efficient use of energy and raw materials, producing less waste and eco-friendly manufacturing by providing consultancy services in the field of Energy Efficiency in Manufacturing Processes and organizing Environment and Energy Awards. ICI prioritizes circular economy on top of its agenda to support sustainable production and competitiveness of its members. ICI will kick off the Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency Platform project to facilitate green transition of manufacturing industry by providing training and advisory services for SMEs on Circular product/ service design and Clean technologies, Energy, and Resource Efficiency & Management.

ICI’s Digital Transformation Office & Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Digital Transformation of the Manufacturing Industry supports the digitalization of SMEs and their greater resilience to shocks. ICI aims to remove the barriers as well as enhance the SMEs competitiveness and sustainability to create more value for the EU economy by means of raising awareness of SMEs about digital transformation, supporting the SMEs during their entire digital transformation journey, acting as a bridge between academia, start-ups, digital technology providers and industry.

ICI is the coordinator of the MIND4MACHINES project with a budget of € 5 million, financed under the Horizon 2020 INNOSUP Program. MIND4MACHINES Project aims to support SMEs developing technology in the field of Big Data, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Cyber Security Technologies. ICI led consortium brings together 11 organizations from 8 different EU countries.

ICI is the strategic partner of ITU Çekirdek Entrepreneurship cooperation, which is the leading, fully integrated incubation center of early-stage entrepreneurs, bringing together science, technology and design since 2015. It supports entrepreneurs in developing, testing, validating and deploying their innovative technologies/processes/products to guide entrepreneurs in their commercialization journey. Within the scope of the cooperation, entrepreneurs are awarded every year with the vision of “industrialists of the future”.
“Istanbul Project Academy” project, developed by ICI, is funded under the Innovative Istanbul Financial Support Program of the Istanbul Development Agency (IDA) and started its activities on February 15, 2022. Within the scope of this project, which will last for 15 months, an exemplary and expandable interface model will be developed, enabling Turkish manufacturing industry organizations to benefit more from the European Union's R&D and innovation financing resources, facilitating their access to Horizon Europe 2021-2027 funds and reducing entry barriers is intended. Istanbul Project Academy will be an example framework of the interface model of an impact and output-oriented co-development approach in the ecosystem by providing coordination between seven universities from Istanbul through industrial organizations and TTOs under the leadership of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry. Istanbul Project Academy will create a leverage effect for all industrial companies and universities at the Istanbul region level by supporting and contributing to the efforts of TUBITAK, the national contact point of the Horizon Europe program, to increase participation and success rate in Turkey. While Istanbul Project Academy takes the Horizon Europe program as its main target, it is aimed to be a structure that continues its activities in the future R&D and innovation framework programs of the European Union. For this reason, it is aimed to include all stakeholders in the ecosystem within this structure and to expand the scope of the Istanbul Project Academy by expanding.