The "10th SMEs and Productivity Congress" was held as a hybrid in Önder Öztunalı Conference Hall on 9-10 June 2022 in cooperation with IKU Department of Business Administration and Small and Medium Enterprises Development and Support Administration (KOSGEB).

In the two-day congress program held with the theme of "Opportunities Presented by the Pandemic to SMEs"; "SMEs and Digitalization", "Covid-19 Pandemic and SMEs", "SMEs in Terms of Business Functions in the Light of New Developments", "Digital Transformation and Technology Use in SMEs", "Industry 4.0 Artificial Intelligence", " E-Business", "E-Business", "E-University", "E-Commerce", "Social Media Sales", "Using Information Technologies", "Environmentally Friendly Green Production", "Next Generation Business Models in SMEs" ' were discussed.

Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Prof. Dr. Müge Çetiner, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver and Rector made the opening speeches.

Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, TÜRKONFED, Corpitall, TUGİM and INGEV became sponsors to the congress which KOSGEB Vice President Recep Ali Erdoğan attended as an invited speaker. The comprehensive electronic book of the congress will meet the readers in July 2022.

Dialogue for the Vital Force of SMEs

Noting that the world went through an important test with the pandemic, Prof. Dr. Müge Çetiner drew attention to the importance of the dialogue between the public, private sector, and the scientific world in protecting the vital forces of SMEs and increasing their competitiveness.

Our Rector said the following about the 10th anniversary of the congress and its theme:

“If we had tried to predict today’s theme 10 years ago, the pandemic might have been considered a risk in our notes. However, topics such as technology, economic crises and the effects of globalization would have still predominated in the conditions of that period, and a pandemic would not have been the first thing that would come to our minds. Yes, the times have changed. We have come to a very different point where the understanding of production and service is being redefined. The purpose of existence of small, medium and large enterprises, philosophy, management principles, growth targets and areas of responsibility are much more comprehensive than 10 years ago. There is no doubt that the pandemic has triggered a new milestone for businesses. The main goal of our congress is to facilitate the approach of SMEs, which play a fundamental role for the economic and social development of our country, to the pandemic crisis with a different projection.” 

Administrative Responsibility to Read the Message of Crises Correctly 

Stating that Kültür College, which is a family business serving in the field of education, was established in the 1958 devaluation, our Chairman of the Board of Trustees Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver, on the other hand, pointed out that turning crisis into opportunity is a strategic process rather than an instinctive and pragmatic understanding. Our Chairman of the Board of Trustees said, “It requires a correct understanding and interpretation of the problem. It is a process that combines the ability to see the opportunities in the crisis, to look at the issue as a calm power, agility, a high analytical intelligence, producing solutions, objective evaluation, rational optimism in balance, requiring high effort, and which can reach its meaning with a common mind. If the search for opportunities in the depths of the crisis can be carried out with the ideal of serving people and the country by taking it one step beyond personal interests and high commercial concerns, it is a great success. Today, our family business, Kültür College, to which our university owes its root values, is also a work of crisis period. It is, after the 1958 devaluation, the initiative of our Founder and Honorary President, Civil Engineer Fahamettin Akıngüç, whose profession is engineering, and passion is education. Maybe that's partly why every crisis is like an opportunity for us to improve our schools, and a school to strengthen our steps and keep our feet firmly on the ground.”