CDP Turkey Project Manager Mirhan Köroğlu Göğüş directed the Carbon and Water Management section of the Green Business Conference held on September 23rd and 24th, 2014 at the Raffles Hotel.

The section took place on the first day of the Green Business Conference and started with a presentation by Tuba Seyyah of the Office of Climate and Air Management of the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning on “New Regulations Concerning the Carbon Emissions of Businesses.”  Following this was Bureau Veritas UK, Sustainability Services BU Manager Flavio Gomez on “The Development of EU-ETS and Issues Faced by Companies in the Transition to MRV.”

The section included a panel discussion on “Preparations for the New Regulations Concerning Carbon Emissions” moderated by Çağla Balcı of Rüzgar Consultancy.  Speakers were Eczacıbaşı Vitra Tiles Quality Assurance Manager Metin Enbiyaoğlu, İzmir Steelworks Environment and SHE Leader Funda Apa Aslan and Cellulose and Paper Industry Foundation Advisor Sedef Zaimoğlu.

Speaking after the panel was Water Politics Expert and Hydropolitics Academy President Dursun Yıldız on “Turkey and the Change in Water Management.” The panel discussion on “A New Era in Carbon Emissions for Businesses: Best Practices” included representatives of various industries who gave information concerning the work undertaken by their companies.  Speakers were Akenerji Elektrik Üretim A.Ş. Vice President of Trade, Selim Güven; Erdemir Environmental Manager, Aygül Özsu; and Toyota Türkiye Pazarlama ve Satış A.Ş. Director of Sales, Selim Okutur.

Gökmen Argun, National Coordinator for the UNDP GEF Small Grant Program (SGP) gave a lecture titled “GEF Small Grant Program: Local Examples” and provided information about efforts in this area.

Finally, the session titled “Example Projects for Sustainable Carbon Management through the Collaboration of Businesses and NGOs” featured the Vice President of Projects, Training and Volunteers of the Aegean Forest Foundation.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences member Murat Germen’s work was exhibited at Photo Shanghai, the first international art fair in the Asia-Pacific region that focuses exclusively on photography.

Murat Germen'swork was exhibited by C.A.M. Galeri. Gallery Director Melek Gencer spoke on their decision to take part in the fair with Germen’s work only: “We have made good beginnings by introducing a Turkish artist whose work is relevant on a universal scale to Shanghai. The reactions we received from many countries regarding Murat Germen’s work motivated us.”

Murat Germen's exhibition pieces deal with pressing contemporary issues like environmental problems, population increase, urban transformation and public revolts. These common issues are depicted in Germen’s work as deconstructed and manipulated images.

Murat Germen, who is represented by three galleries internationally, said that the exhibition to follow what he calls “personalized documentaries” will deal with water, shortage, hydropower plants, and their ties to political power.

The European Enterprise Network Sabancı University team has been chosen to receive European Commission funding for the INNOVEEN Project, submitted for the INNOSUP Call opened as part of the H2020 Program.

INNOVEEN will be among the first H2020 projects of Sabancı University to be funded.

INNOVEEN was one of the two projects chosen for funding among five submissions in Turkey, and aims to improve the regional innovation ecosystem by developing the innovation management capabilities of small and medium businesses based in Istanbul.　 Specifically, the project is focused on two main activities. The first objective of the project is to help small and medium businesses that are included in the H2020 SMB Instrument Program of the European Commission manage their innovation projects effectively by enabling coaching services to these businesses. The project also aims to determine and act upon the improvement opportunities of small and medium businesses in innovation management for an ultimate goal of increasing the rate at which EU innovation funds are utilized. As part of the project, the European Enterprise Network Istanbul - Sabancı University Unit will provide these services to 39 businesses based in Istanbul.

Curated by Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences member Ayşe Gül Altınay and Işın Önol, the exhibition will be available for viewing at Depo until October 3^{rd, 2014.}

The feminist works of Turlish and foreign artists in the exhibition imagine memory as an element of resistance policies, and mobilizes memories and witnesses of violence throughout time and around the world by putting forward ways of remembering that are outside of the official approach in order to support the struggle for social difference.

The “Mobilizing Memory: Women Witnessing” exhibition held as part of the Mobilizing Memory for Action workshop organized by Sabancı University Gender and Women’s Studies Forum, Columbia Global Centers l Turkey, and Columbia University Center for the Study of Social Difference is available for viewing at Depo

Curated by Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences member Ayşe Gül Altınay and Işın Önol, the exhibition will remain open until October 3^{rd, 2014}. Artists in the exhibition include Gülçin Aksoy, Hera Büyüktaşçıyan, Silvina Der-Meguerditchian, Hakikat Adalet Hafıza Merkezi (Center for Truth, Justice and Memory), Gülsün Karamustafa, Susan Meiselas, Nar Photos (Serra Akcan, Fatma Çelik, Gülşin Ketenci, Aylin Kızıl, Serpil Polat), Lorie Novak, Emine Gözde Sevim, and Aylin Tekiner.

The feminist art work displayed in this exhibit imagines memory as part of a larger politics of resistance. It mobilizes memories of past and present violence precisely to create the conditions and the motivations for social change. Bringing together women artists many of whom are themselves direct witnesses to oppression and terror, the exhibit also reveals moments of resilience, resistance, and creative survival. The artists gathered here use memory in innovative ways. They foreground unofficial acts of witness and forms of commemoration--embodied practices, performances, photography, testimony, street actions—that provide alternative histories and different political imaginaries than do official archives, memorials, museums, and state commemorations. They make visible not only violent crimes and their gendered dimensions, but also the intimate texture of lives and communities that have survived or are fighting to survive immense destruction.

Some questions that the exhibited works discuss are: What is the role of witnessing in practices of resistance: resistance to enforced silence and forgetting, to state power, and to inaction? What role do the arts play in combating the erasure of past violence from current memory and in creating new visions and new histories for future generations? In particular, what unique strategies have women devised to reveal and redress the violence directed at woman and at other disempowered social groups?

For more information about the project and events:
^{http://globalcenters.columbia.edu/istanbul/}

Exhibition catalog:　^{http://socialdifference.columbia.edu/publications/mobilizing-memory-women-witnessing-exhibition-catalogue/}

According to Bloomberg Businessweek’s “Favorite Universities 2014” survey, Sabancı University is Turkey’s favorite university.

For this year’s “Favorite Universities” survey, 15,700 students from 89 universities gave responses.

The model developed by Realta Consultancy measures the satisfaction of students with their universities.

The survey contains 56 questions on Faculty, Learning Resources, Courses, Quality of Education, Personal Development, Social Environment, and Building and Amenities. More than 300 Sabancı University students received online surveys between January and May 2014. According to overall results, Sabancı University took first place among all universities in Turkey.

Sabancı University scored the strongest in Learning Resources, leaving behind all public and private universities. Other reasons that led students to choose Sabancı University were “quality of education,” “ability to change programs” and “reputation.”

Sabancı University students gave highest scores to “learning resources and environment,” “academic support” and “personal development.” In overall satisfaction, Sabancı University students scored their institution 4.70 out of a possible maximum score of 5. The average of this score for private universities was 3.62.

Click here to read the July 6, 2014 issue of the Bloomberg Businessweek magazine for the complete survey.

Being Turkey’s most entrepreneurial and innovative private university, Sabancı University was listed among the top 500 universities of the world in the QS World University Rankings.

Sabancı University was ranked between 470th and 480th in the QS World University Rankings, one of the most influential university rankings in the world.  The QS World University Rankings assesses more than 800 universities around the world based on six indicators in four areas of interest each, namely research, teaching, employability and international outlook.

Four of the indicators are based on “hard” data, and the remaining two on major global surveys – one of academics and another of employers.  The weight of the indicators based on hard data are 20% for student-to-faculty ratio; 20% for citations per faculty; 5% for international faculty ratio and 5% for international student ratio.  The weight of the survey indicators are 40% academic reputation and 10% for employer reputation.

Other Turkish universities featured in the top 500 of the QS World University Rankings are Bilkent University, Boğaziçi University, Middle East Technical University and Koç University.

Click for QS World University Rankings.

After an initial cooperation with the Sabancı University Executive Development Unit-EDU in 2012 to train and improve the competencies of all client-facing employees in stores, Avea now established the AVEA Communication and Change Academy (AİDO) under its ‘AVEAKampus’ initiative to implement the Avea Sales Channels Certification Development Program.

AVEA Communication and Change Academy (AİDO), a collaboration of Sabancı University Executive Development Unit-EDU and Avea, was launched at a meeting on Thursday, September 18, 2014.

The project is a first in the industry and will set an example to all sectors as explained by Avea Vice President of Sales, Hüseyin Balcı and Sabancı University Executive Development Unit Director Dr. Cüneyt Evirgen who spoke at the meeting.

Hüseyin Balcı said, “Our organization in Turkey encompasses 810 Avea Communication Centers, 35 Corporate Technology Centers, 39 Avea Distribution Centers, 40 kiosks in 17 chain stores in addition to over 18,000 chain store outlets, 13,000 Anahtarkart dealers and 2000 Avea Sales Points.  Through an investment of TL 800 million in 2011 to open new Avea Communication Centers worldwide, we are reaching out to our customers and providing excellent service at 810 locations in 81 provinces.  Infrastructure investments are continuous at Avea in order to keep our systems up to date, but investment in people never comes secondary.  This initiative will give Avea the privilege to be a brand that defines service standards in the industry.  Our objective with AİDO is to create a brand spokesperson out of every store manager that represents our brand.”

Dr. Cüneyt Evirgen: “Open communication and maintaining content that best meets the real need and evolves along with the world of business are important to us”

Sabancı Executive Development Unit Director Dr. Cüneyt Evirgen said, “At the onset, we defined development as a continuous journey forward.  We call it development and not training.  This is why continuity and sustainability are priorities in all of our programs.  We embed the Sabancı University mission of ‘creating and developing together’ in all of our collaborative efforts.  Open communication and maintaining content that best meets the real need and evolves along with the world of business are important to us.  We call our collaborations with institutions ‘learning partnerships’.”

Dr. Evirgen continued: “There were two things in the project that excited us the most.  First was the ‘belief in change’ shared by the AVEA management, and the other was how passionate, enthusiastic and determined the young trainers of AVEA were.  We knew where Avea wanted to go.  We went to the field with trainers.  We visited stores.  We analyzed the path and tools Avea needed to reach where they wanted to go.  This journey gave us one more thing to be excited about: thanks to the learning partnership with Avea, we had the chance to meet the young store managers, almost all of whom are of the ‘Generation Y’.  Their energy, the support of store owners, close supervision by the Avea management, and the fast pace of the young trainers led to true synergy.

“This project led to an entirely different approach.  Avea’s young trainers developed their competencies perfectly.  We were with them through all the stages of the process.  We reviewed feedback.  The method of delivery was not limited to the class environment, and we tried other methods like in-store or on-the-job learning, remote learning, and learning by play.  We assessed success with exams, tests, assignments and in-store behavior.  We devised a method of working where the value created is nurtured on a common platform, and a common language is spoken.”

Avea Communication and Change Academy:

• As the leading technological communication development project that trains qualified employees for the industry, the Avea Field Sales Channels Certification Development implemented by AİDO certified 170 male and 80 female store managers to this date.

• The project consists of “Administrative” “Professional” and “Personal and Corporate Development” sections.  Avea provided training to store owners as well, while providing 460 business partners who completed the two-phase Sabancı University program successfully with the opportunity to receive training at the university.

• The daily cost of the project is approximately TL 4000, and Avea has so far provided this program to 250 store managers and 460 business partners free of charge, and plans to certify 350 additional trainees by the end of the year.  The total investment of the project exceeds TL 10 million.

Sabancı University School of Management professor Çağrı Haksöz spoke at the 25th Brisa Sustainable Change Conference.  The Conference was held at the Sabancı Center on Monday, September 15th, 2014.  Sabancı Holding President and Sabancı University Board of Trustees Chair Güler Sabancı gave introductory remarks.

üler Sabancı said, "We are excited about a new industry policy that considers the technologies of the future and regulates labor and tax policies to encourage advancement.”

Sabancı noted that during an era of great transformation for the world and humanity, everyone had the responsibility to think more about the future and anticipate the needs of future generations.

Saying that keeping people and their needs and expectations at the center is important, Sabancı continued, "People who are connected to technology and communication, going through rapid change, acquiring new needs and expectations…  We need to find the solutions for the as yet undefined needs of the evolving society in order to be able to lead this change.  This is driven by innovation, sustainability and entrepreneurship.  At Sabancı Holding, we incorporate these three drivers in all our processes.  We work to create environments where new ideas will be nurtured to make a difference as our vision requires.  We try to provide our people with the right climate to transform innovative ideas to tangible success."

Güler Sabancı mentioned the recent emphasis on creating an environment that is conducive to entrepreneurship, innovation and research, explaining that while noticeable improvement has been achieved in research infrastructure, support must continue in a planned manner.  Sabancı expressed her pride in Sabancı University being at the top of the university entrepreneurship and innovation index compiled by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology.

Sabancı University School of Management professor Çağrı Haksöz gave a lecture on “Risk Intelligence Journey.”

Çağrı Haksöz said that the risk intelligence journey was a necessary one in the 2000, mentioning the uncertainty created by questions like “Can we manage in such rapid change?” and “How happy will the individual be with these changes?”

Haksöz explained that brands today work with suppliers in different countries, which leads to an environment of uncertainty where unknown and unexpected risks are multiplying.  Haksöz used the Black Swan theory of low-probability, high-impact events to explain unknown risks.  According to this, the argument that “all swans are white” is refuted when a single black swan is observed.  Haksöz said that measured and managed risks are usually white swans, and that fixating on the black swan could cause people to lose sight of other birds (risks and opportunities) in the ecosystem.  Saying that the brain only sees and perceives what it focuses on, Haksöz explained his Swan Lake Theory where the white swan represents big data, the black swan represents little data, and the gray swan is the transition zone.  Çağrı Haksöz said “Gray swans are the near misses.  We can be successful if the data there is collected properly.  Contrary to expectations, individuals and supply chains with high risk quotients can thrive and grow stronger in times of fragility.”

Çağrı Haksöz mentioned the four main roles in risk intelligence, which he called the I-Quartet.  Çağrı Haksöz explained these roles based on his Tightrope Walker of Bosphorus metaphor.

Integrator: Using all of one’s competencies, capabilities and experience to ensure that the flow is perfect for internal and external requirements.

Inquirer: Being open to learning from mistakes, close threats and near misses; having the ability to foresee changes that may happen when taking the next step (like the tightness of the rope, wind speed and direction, and the walker’s psychological situation).

Improviser: Finding ways to make use of what is on hand to increase resistance, resilience and endurance.  The key attribute of Turkish companies.

Ingenious: Creating opportunities to enjoy the work while taking risks intelligently.

Çağrı Haksöz concluded: “Are you fervent or bold on this journey?  Being fervent is having the courage of the uninformed; being bold is calculating risks and taking steps accordingly.”

‘Women, Birds and Stars’ of the great twentieth century artist Joan Miró is at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum sponsored by Sabancı Holding

Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM), hosts a comprehensive exhibition consisting of the Catalan artist and sculptor Joan Miró, born in Barcelona. This exhibition, titled Joan Miró. Women, Birds and Stars focuses on the maturity period of the groundbreaking and versatile artist. The exhibition, sponsored by Sabancı Holding and organized in collaboration with the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona, the family collection  Successió Miró in Mallorca and the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation again in Mallorca can be visited between 23 September 2014 and 1 February 2015. Focusing on the women, birds and stars themes of Miró, who was inspired by his observations on the Mediterranean landscape and people, the exhibition presents the viewer a rich selection of paintings, prints, sculptures and ceramics, thus providing the opportunity to understand Miró’s symbolic language. Artlovers who will meet with Miró in Istanbul, will witness the reflections in different forms of the energy the artist derived from the Mediterranean culture. 

The SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer said, ‘We initiated talks with the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona three years ago. Our dream was to add the third link with this great Catalan master to the trilogy of Spain’s great masters, which we started with Pablo Picasso and continued with Salvador Dali. Now we are filled with the excitement of having fulfilled this dream. Together with the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona, we decided to prepare a selection, focusing on the artist’s maturity period, centering on women, birds and stars, themes which he never gave up, and which underline his versatility. To stress this versatility, we also borrowed works of art from the family collection in Mallorca and workshop materials from the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation again in Mallorca. Some of his art in different techniques and some of his personal belongings will be exhibited for the first time, here at SSM, in Turkey. A series of documentaries will also be shown at the exhibition, thus giving us the chance to observe the artist’s life, inner world, his transformations, friends, anger and reaction to the political events in his country and in the world, thereby catching a glimpse of his secret world, which he guarded closely.’ 

Sabancı Holding CEO Zafer Kurtul’s comments were as follows: ‘We do not limit ourselves to our economic activities; supporting projects within the sphere of art and culture is always a priority for us. Sabancı Holding has supported exhibitions by great masters ever since the ‘Picasso in Istanbul’ exhibition which ushered a new era in the history of Turkish museums. We deem this to be an integral part of our corporate citizenship. Our efforts in this respect are based on our wish and will to make a contribution to the society, from our social responsibility perspective. We are extremely gratified that the Turkish society responds wholeheartedly to this wish of ours. I believe that this exhibition will be received with the same warm interest witnessed by the previous ones, with long queues at the doors.  Miró is the fourth great master whose works we have helped to bring to the Turkish public, the first three being Picasso, Rembrandt and Monet. Sabancı Holding’s vision is to acquire permanent advantages through making difference, and Miró is an artist who has made a difference with his art, with his works. This exhibition will enable us to come to know and understand this great master, through his life as well as his work.’ 

Material Science and Engineering 2009 graduate Canan Dağdeviren was among the winners of the “Innovators Under 35 Turkey” by MIT Technology Review.  Canan was also nameed “the innovator of the year” among all winners.

'MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35' is an annual list of young technology experts who find solutions to the fundamental problems we face today, and change the world.

Innovators Under 35 Turkey promotes young, creative and bold Turkish innovators with technology-based projects that have the potential to shape the future.

Canan Dağdeviren is coming under limelight in the United States with her successful work

Canan Dağdeviren is working on flexible and bendable electronic devices that can be implanted into the body or on the skin.  Her work extends across physics, electronics, chemistry, materials, mechanics and medicine.

Dağdeviren was the top of the list in her field to be entitled to a Fulbright Doctoral Fellowship, which was given for the first time in Turkey in 2009, and was admitted to the Material Science and Engineering Department of The University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign.