Tink Innovation Centers

Academia has never experienced a faster pace of change.

We are convinced that the future belongs to those institutions that are nimble enough to stay in front of the wave of change and, more importantly, help define what will be next in education.

That feeling led to the creation of Tink.  As we believe the business of national and international education is rapidly changing. The old models of business, pedagogy, and mission are either being questioned, or are no longer valid, meaning we must continually assess and reassess our own methodologies.

This moment is ripe for change in education. Scores of technology entrepreneurs, foundations, and policymakers are already trying to shape what the future looks like for both learners and institutions.

The message for K12 institutions is clear: they can either sit idly by or join in to design their own destiny. As Turkey’s first innovative technology K12, Tink sits squarely in the middle of the forces shaping education. It is uniquely positioned to model what the high school of the future might look like.

Tink has redefined the fundamental approach to educational delivery with four key actions: eliminate artificial barriers between business and pre-college schooling, invent flexible educational pathways and credentials that recognize continual learning, reinvent the physical presence of a high school for a worldwide population of learners, and provide networks of advisors and mentors that serve the lifetime needs of Tink students and staff.

Innovation is required for each of these steps to be successful.

An integral part of delivering on the promise of the Tink Commitment is a set of initiatives that are aimed at closing knowledge gaps, prototyping new products and services, and building technological infrastructure that enables this broad expansion of Tink’s mission.

TinkHouse Innovation Center and Youth Accelerator

One of the key initiatives is creating Turkey’s (and eventually the region’s largest) innovation center and youth startup accelerator.

TinkHouse is a center to support innovation and entrepreneurship in our campus.  It will run activities and funds to foster an entrepreneurial campus and cultivate a risk-taking value-creation mindset.

Through direct encouragement and engagement of the Tink Ecosystem (students, alumni, teachers and corporate partners), we strive to nurture next-generation entrepreneurs whose companies make commercial, social or cultural impacts for the economic and social development of Turkey and other regions.  

Our program is called Dream Builder, which supports the community to make big dreams and build them. The program equips interested parties from knowledge acquisition, ideation, prototyping to commercialization, as follows:

1. Knowledge (Broaden and deepen skillsets): This is to equip the community with practical knowledge and tools for entrepreneurial pursuit.  We organize weekly seminar series, TinkTalks, inviting prominent practitioners (entrepreneurs, investors, civil society, academics etc.) to share their experiences.  We also organize workshops on current and advanced topics of interest, where the community can gain hands-on learning experience.
2. Ideation (Grow and build ideas): The goal is to inspire, grow and implement ideas.  We run various competitions where students can be exposed to different ideas, pitch theirs, receive feedbacks, and connect with the like-minded.  We organize visits to maker spaces, startups, conferences and exhibitions so that the participants can be engaged and exposed to different market sectors so as to develop empathy toward them. We also manage the TinkHouse, a vibrant co-working space to promote entrepreneurship and a mixer to connect all Tink entrepreneurial members.
3. Execution (Create value and impacts): The goal is to help our serious players to build their products and penetrate markets.  We manage accelerator funds (TR Angels) and a co-working space to help them jumpstart their products.  We offer them advising and mentorship (Starters Hub) so that they can find pathways from ideas to impacts.  To help their startups grow, we also organize activities so that their ventures can be exposed to the market, customers and investors.

Through the TinkHouse project our campuses will be developed into Innovation Centers promoting student excellence in high-tech specialist areas, industry focused qualifications focusing on jobs of the future and producing the next generation of leading experts in their field.

AI, blockchain and 3D printing will be central themes while each year will focus on different areas such as digital industries, digital finance, education technology, aviation, biotech, sports, robotics, nanotech and more.

Through TinkHouse, we will provide systematic cultivation of future entrepreneurs, create a self-sustaining entrepreneurial eco-system, and stimulate technological innovation and knowledge transfer.  We look forward to working with you in fostering an entrepreneurial culture in the campus.

Please let us know if you would like to become a Tink Partner in developing these centers.