Dr. Derya Çağlar is the founding Chief Executive Officer / General Manager of Ostim Teknopark in Ankara, Türkiye, where she has led the establishment and growth of one of Türkiye’s active industry-anchored innovation hubs since 2015. Located within the OSTİM industrial ecosystem, Ostim Teknopark connects startups, SMEs, universities, investors and public institutions to support technology commercialization, entrepreneurship and regional competitiveness.
Under her leadership, Ostim Teknopark has developed an end-to-end venture and commercialization pipeline, including incubation and acceleration programs, the PROTA Technology Manufacturing Center, and OSTİM INP, Ankara’s only accredited angel investment platform. Her work focuses on industrial innovation, deep-tech and manufacturing entrepreneurship, university-industry collaboration, venture development and the role of science parks in creating measurable regional value.
Dr. Çağlar is active in international innovation networks. She serves on the Steering Committee of the IASP 2026 World Conference and is a founding member and Executive Committee member of the Southeast Europe Science and Technology Parks Alliance. She previously served for seven years as Vice President and Board Member of the Technology Development Zones Association of Türkiye and contributes to UNESCO-related work on sustainable development and social transformation.
Her academic background combines planning, economics and decision science. She holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University in Natural Resource and Environmental Economics, specializing in Decision Analysis, as well as graduate and undergraduate degrees in City and Regional Planning. Before joining Ostim Teknopark, she was an Assistant Professor at California State University, Fresno and held senior strategy and investment-promotion roles at the Ankara Development Agency.