Koç for gender equality and inventions

Koç Holding was the only company from Turkey on the Fortune Global 500 list when it entered the list in 419th place in 2016. I had the opportunity to participate in two meaningful events put on by the company in rapid succession.

Both of these events concerned two topics that Turkey has to focus on the most: one is patents, the other is gender equality. 

Even though Turkey has gone a long way in recent years in the patent field, the list of those companies who have applied for the largest number of patents issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is quite meaningful. 

In the WIPO list, Arçelik from Koç Holding is in 74th place with 270 patent applications out of more than 2,000 companies. On the same list, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), is only in 1,937th place. 

We can say the private sector is far ahead of the state in patents, both in terms of providing opportunities and in terms of human resources. 

White goods producer Arçelik, which knows the value of human resources in inventions, has been organizing an "Invention Day" for 19 years to reward young inventors. I was able to participate in the occasion recently in which Arçelik rewarded 508 young inventors who have produced innovations in our daily lives. 

Koç Holding has also registered notable achievements on gender equality. Before explaining what these are, I have to state that Koç was a pioneer in Turkey when the United Nations launched the "He For She" campaign three years ago. 

As a signatory of the He For She campaign, Koç Holding has been holding seminars since 2015 within the framework of "I support gender equality." They have reached 81,000 people so far. 

"Gender...