Kordsa gives central stage to innovation and R&D in its operations with a view to develop value-added and sustainable technologies that make a difference in all its business lines. Therefore, R&D centers in the Kordsa culture are much more than research and development centers, they are business units. Ideas, studies and developments turn into brand-new products and processes with Kordsa’s experience.
Kordsa is developing the reinforcement technologies of the future with a team of about 100 employees at 2 R&D centers, one in Izmit, the other at Teknopark, composed of 39 technicians, 54 researchers and 7 support staff. Owing to its open innovation mindset, today Kordsa carries out partnerships and projects of global scale, and has become an organization that exports technology to the rest of the world thanks to the efforts at these two centers.
Kordsa’s first R&D center was established in Izmit in 2008. It qualified for a license on April 24, 2009. The research conducted at this center focuses on new technologies and competencies that will increase energy efficiency and decrease carbon dioxide emissions taking into account the environmental impact. The second R&D center is the one at the Composite Technologies Center of Excellence established in 2016 with an investment of 30 million USD in partnership with Sabancı University. The Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkey authorized and registered the Center on January 10, 2017, which made it the 344th R&D center in Turkey. This Center is the first carbon fabric and prepreg producer in Turkey that can support all stages from basic research to prototype parts production, as well as one of the notable test centers globally, and one of the leading producers in Europe.
Having received many awards, both R&D centers continue to work as the leading and pioneer R&D centers of Turkey. While the R&D center in Izmit was pronounced the “Best R&D Center – All Sectors” according to the 2014 R&D centers performance index of the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, it was designated the “Best R&D Center” in the textile sector for five consecutive years. In the same vein, the Center was awarded the first prize in Innovation Strategy at the Turkey Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week in 2015, and the third prize in 2017. Besides, Kordsa ranked among the organizations with the strongest infrastructure in intellectual property according to the Intellectual Property Competence criteria as assessed by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology.
Kordsa steers the market and redefines standards in the industry by way of the technologies it develops at these two R&D centers that literally function like a powerhouse for technology. Developing technologies that make a difference in line with its mission “Reinforcing Life”, Kordsa aims to introduce reinforcement to more aspects of life every day. Thanks to its new investments, Kordsa now reinforces also the wings and hulls of the aircrafts the tires of which it was reinforcing, as well as the runway for these aircrafts. Aiming to touch more lives, Kordsa, with its strong innovation mindset today, is ready to go beyond the globe and reinforce space.
Composite Technologies Center of Excellence (CTCE) brings university and industry together under the same roof in order to deal with all of the basic research, applied research, technology development, product development, resourcing, and manufacturing process issues associated with composite products. Also present in this ecosystem are all of the designers, engineers, production process managers and personnel, doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty members, and incubators/entrepreneurs who play a vital role in the overall process. Thus, Composite Technologies Center of Excellence serves customers at every stage of the research and development cycle beginning with basic research, continuing with prototyping, and ending with mass production.
Built on 15,000 m2 closed area with a 3,350 m2 laboratory infrastructure, Composite Technologies Center of Excellence hosts one of the very few test centers in the world as well as a manufacturing facility.