Who are we?

Prof. Dr ORHAN B. ALANKUŞ
Founder, Senior Researcher and Consultant
 INNODARE Innovation, Technology and R&D Platform Company

Prof.  Orhan B. Alankuş, who is the founder and the managing director of INNODARE, has more than forty years of industrial and academic experience, including R&D, Technology and Innovation Management, Automotive Product Development, Team formation and management, Project Development and Management, Technology Transfer Processes, Advanced  Manufacturing Engineering and Lean Management processes.

He graduated from  Ankara Science High School and got his B. Sc. and  M.Sc degrees from METU Mechanical Engineering. He earned his Ph.D. degree on the subject of  “The Application of Microprocessors to Machine Tools” at the Imperial College of  Science and Technology, London.

After two years at a research company in London, he started his career at TOFAŞ working respectively as a Computerized Production Systems Expert, Administrator of the Manufacturing Engineering Department, Vice Manager of Technical Services and R&D Director. At TOFAS, he has supported and managed the R&D projects related to Doblo, Palio, Siena, Albea and Minicargo ( Fiorino).  He has undertaken the position of General Manager of the  Design and R&D Company of  TOFAS-FIAT, Platfom Inc. Orhan has acted as “Technology Consultant” and as “Technology and Environment Coordinator “ in KOC Holding, coordinating R&D, Technology, Innovation and Environment Management activities of Koc Holding Companies. Orhan also formed the Technology Transfer Office of Okan University and coordinated the department for over ten years. He also acted as an academician giving lectures in areas including technology and innovation management, autonomous vehicles, digital and advanced automotive production techniques, and fundamentals of automotive design.

Prof. Alankuş supported the development of many successful projects at Okan University, including Development agencies, EU projects, the Scientific and Research Council of Turkey and IPA(Instrument for Pre-Accession Europe)  and conducted and followed up the projects successfully.

Prof. Alankuş has many articles published in various national and international journals and symposiums and has more than 15 patent applications, six registered patents and one registered utility model.
He is a Senior IEEE member and an SAE member.

Ali Özgenç

Senior Consultant

Ali Ozgenc is the Chairman of Algoritma Business Consulting. He is an expert in the fields of Innovation Management, Business Transformation, Corporate Strategy, Company Restructuring, and Innovative Cost Reduction. Mr. Ozgenc is at the same time an angel investor and a Founding Partner and Vice Chairman of Keiretsu Forum Turkey. Keiretsu Forum is the largest Angel Investment Network both worldwide and in Turkey.

Mr. Ozgenc is a columnist in Capital, the leading business magazine in Turkey. He is also a professional speaker. He works on popularizing innovation nationwide through his writings, speeches, conferences, and media appearances.

Mr. Ozgenc was a member of the top management of Sabanci Holding Inc., one of the biggest conglomerates in Turkey. As the Director in charge of Business Development he led drives in the Sabanci Group for Business Excellence, Operational Excellence, Cost Reduction and Productivity, and Outsourcing. He was also the Corporate Six Sigma Champion for the Sabanci Group. Ali Ozgenc was concurrently a board member of Toyotasa, Cimsa, and Bimsa companies.

Previously, he led the foundation of Argesa, one of the first R&D Centers in Turkey. Mr. Ozgenc has more than 15 years of hands-on experience in Innovation Management, and more than 30 years experience in management, including Technology, Marketing, and General Management.

He was a part of the team which took Brisa Inc. to the first National Quality Award and to the European Quality Award.

Mr. Ozgenc, with his vast and deep-rooted experience portfolio, is one of the most acclaimed personalities in Turkey in Innovation Management, a required capability for bringing a mindset change and a jump in performance in an organization

Prof. Dr. Mustafa İlhan GÖKLER

Senior Researcher and Consultant

Prof. Dr. Gökler received his B.Sc. degree from Mechanical Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey and Ph.D. degree from the Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Birmingham, UK. After his Ph.D, he has started his academic carrier at the Mechanical Engineering Dept. of Middle East Technical University. He was entitled to the “Professorship Title” in the year 1998 and was at the METU until his retirement in January 2023, after serving for around 40 years at the Faculty. His research interests are Digital Transformation, Automotive, Vehicle Safety, Manufacturing, Forging and Metal Forming. He has supervised about 90 graduate studies.

In METU, while he taught “Manufacturing Technologies”, “Engineering Economy” and “Tool Design” courses in the department, he was the director of METU-BILTIR Research and Application Center between 1999 and 2023. Prof. Dr. Gökler founded METU-BILTIR Center Vehicle Safety Unit Sled Test Facility in 2009. He has realised several R&D industrial projects, especially in the automotive and the forging industry.
Prof. Gökler is a founding member of DÖVSADER Turkey Forgers’ Association, MATİM Machine Design and Production Society of Turkey and he was a founding member of AUSDER Association of Intelligent Transportation Systems of Turkey.

Prof. Gökler has started SAVTEK Defence Technologies Congress organised every two years since 2002 and has been the Congress Chair seven times. He was NATO Applied Vehicle Technology Panel Member in 2007-2010 and NATO Science and Technology Board Member in 2015-2018.

Prof. Gökler was Conference Chair of IAEC’17) (International Automotive Engineering Conference). He was the Co-Chair of DTSS 2018 and DTSS 2019 International Conference and Exhibition on Digital Transformation and Smart Systems.

Prof. Gökler was the founder of METU-BILTIR Center Digital Transformation Platform in 2016 and also led the establishment of METU Technopolis Digital Transformation Platform in 2018. Prof. Gökler put the vision and concept of EU IPA “METU DIGITAL INNOVATION CENTER Project” and he was the Coordination Unit Director of this project till his retirement. He has been the chair of OTEP Automotive Technology Platform Digital Transformation Working Group since 2017.
 

Ayşegül Güngör

Senior Researcher

Ayşegül worked for 11 years in treasury and capital markets She began her investment banking career at T.E.B.; then joined Credit Lyonnais S.A., Istanbul Branch where she spent four years.

She joined Investment Banking Department of Demirbank in 1995 as the fund manager for fixed income mutual funds of the Bank. She took part in the set up process of Demir Menkul Kıymetler ve Yatırım A.S. ,the investment banking subsidiary of Demirbank, where she later served as manager and assistant general manager. She was responsible for the securities trading and fund management of Demirbank’s 11 mutual funds and portfolio management for clients’ accounts. The performances of the mutual funds under her management ranked at top levels according to the various criteria. She developed several investment products such as the first stock exchange index fund in Turkey. She provided marketing and training supports for the branches of Demirbank to sell the mutual funds and the investment products. She also established market risk methodology for the mutual funds and clients’ portfolio management. In 2001, she founded Minerva Egitim ve Danismanlik A.S. with which she has given many trainings in the areas of Treasury, Capital Markets, Marketing & Selling of General Banking Products, Strategic Management Skills, Innovation, Critical Thinking and Career Planning & Development to financial institutions such as banks and varius companies.

She has given conferences in various universities about the career path & development for the students in collaborations with relevant alumni organizations. Specialties: Her main areas of expertise in training includes Treasury Products, Marketing and Selling in Banking, Strategic Management, Innovation and Career Planning & Development.

She has two publications

1. 2 X 2 = 5 Finans Sektöründe Satışçı Değil Danışman Olmalı – İnkilap Ktapevi Nov 2010
2. Görünmez İpler – Librum Kitapevi Mart 2018
 

Corrado Orlando

Ing. Corrado Orlando is an automotive product and process engineering expert with experience both on passenger cars and heavy commercial vehicles including busses and industrial vehicles. He is a Mechanical Engineer, graduated from Napel Polytechnic University and also studied at SDA Bocconi School of Management on ”Innovation in R&D”, and at Luiss Business School on “Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations”.
He had vast experience in many companies starting from Avio and Elasis Companies specializing in stress analysis and automotive body design. He worked at the R&D Department of TOFAS/FIAT in Turkey for three years as “Vehicle Engineering Director”. Then, he continued his career in different companies in the areas of truck cabin design, automotive design, bus design and production process optimization. His multiple innovation experiences, which began with CAE virtual sizing in the aeronautical sector (exclusive theme in 1988), continued with management of the ATENA research project (1997/98), development of a new aluminum chassis and CAN electrical architecture for Ferrari, development new vehicle coordinating a geographically multi-allocated team (2006) through concurrent design technologies, development of a new electric city bus (2021), to date I take care of technology transfer and innovation in SMEs (2022-23). Lately he has founded “PeConsulting – product & process engineering” company giving consultancy in the areas of “Product and equipment benchmarking;  Strategic plan of technology equipment; - Industrial process and key performance indicators;  New product engineering;  Product Lifecycle Management;  Project proposal of innovation ideas;  Legal survey of Industrial investments according to Italian law req"