Innovation and Entrepreneurship Summit 2025 Held in Beşiktaş

The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Summit 2025 was held at the Akatlar Cultural Center, hosted by Beşiktaş Municipality with the contributions of Social Business Global. The summit brought together representatives of the business community, academics, and young entrepreneurs, providing a platform for dialogue on innovation, entrepreneurship, and social impact.

Moderated by Beşiktaş Municipal Council Member Can Çobanoğlu, the event featured expert speakers who shared their knowledge and professional experience. The opening address was delivered by Beşiktaş Deputy Mayor Rasim Şişman, who highlighted Beşiktaş’s unique position as a meeting point for universities, young people, and the business world.

In his remarks, Deputy Mayor Şişman emphasized that Beşiktaş is a dynamic urban center where academic knowledge, entrepreneurial production, and professional expertise naturally intersect. He underlined the municipality’s commitment to an approach to local governance that does not merely observe this potential, but actively learns, produces, and transforms together with its stakeholders.

Şişman also introduced the Karaoğlan Youth Center as a key pillar of this vision, noting that it is being reimagined not simply as a conventional youth center, but as a living social impact space where young people can come together to think, learn, create, and engage directly with the business world. He stressed the importance of sustained interaction between young people and professionals through mentorship programs, collaborative projects, and social innovation initiatives.

Highlighting the need for shared production spaces, Şişman stated that young people require environments where they can test ideas, showcase their potential, and actively contribute. He also underlined the municipality’s efforts to design these spaces in close consultation with young people, including facilities such as digital content production studios, meeting areas, and workshop spaces.

Finally, he drew attention to the importance of bringing universities’ academic expertise into the heart of the city, encouraging academics to engage beyond campus boundaries and connect with urban life and local communities. Concluding his remarks, Şişman reaffirmed Beşiktaş Municipality’s goal of transforming Karaoğlan into a vibrant ecosystem where young people are not isolated, but actively involved in production, innovation, and meaningful engagement with the city.