Being the first company that comes to mind when it comes to technology in our country and carrying this responsibility is not easy. We must always be open to innovation and production so that we can develop first, then our environment, and most importantly our country.
I am a person in love with his profession. I started my work with a computer without a hard disk, two wooden chairs, and black floppy disks. At that time, there were very few visionary companies in my country and I said to myself, "Özgür Akın, reduce your scientist identity to 50% and create your businessman identity with the remaining 50%. Let them step on you, but let your country produce high technology."
In 1995, when our company was founded, we were a very small business, and in those days, in that small business, we said: "We will establish robot factories in our country." Today, exactly 20 years later, we laid the foundation of our robot factory on December 26, 2015. Today, we are proud to fulfill the visions we have set one by one since the day we were founded and we continue to break new ground in Turkey with our new works with the same belief.
We were not founded as a capital company. We declared December 4, 1996, the date of our incorporation, as World Informatics Day. In those days, I was asked: "How come you are declaring World Informatics Day?" We may still receive the same reactions today, but we should look at the issue from this perspective. Somewhere in history, a person whose language, religion, and culture we don't know comes along, and makes a day special and we all follow him. Why shouldn't that person be from our country? Why can't we declare a special day and present it to the world and be proud of it? Is it so difficult to applaud the good things that are being done? When you make a breakthrough, you may face many obstacles, there will be those who try to discourage you. But if you believe that what you are doing is right, you should go ahead and ignore them. "Never give up; even if one day you look back and see that the traces you left are gone, keep walking on the path you know is right. Because more than those who follow you, there will be those who embrace you at your destination."
We decided to reach every corner of Turkey by moving from our small 15m2 office to a showroom in 1997 in line with our visions, in spite of all the contrary opinions. And we opened our first Regional Directorate in Ankara. Of course, in the meantime, we were continuing our work in our small office that did not get sunlight.
In 1991, our vision for the year 2000 was to buy a vehicle that I determined from brand to model. I can almost hear you saying, "What kind of vision is that? Yes, this was one of our visions for the year 2000 and it came true. Another one of our visions for the year 2000 was to visit all our solution partners in our country and we realized this vision as well.
In 2002, I was already making money from hardware and software. If you ask me now, "What is the biggest decision you have made in your 20 years of business life?", I can tell you that in 2002 I left hardware and turned completely to software. While making this decision, I said to myself: "If we are going to die, let's die." And that year, we may have been small in terms of numbers, but we grew 42 times in terms of rate. It was very important for us to do a job on time: "Just in time!" As we mentioned in the slogan of our Wolvox software, we made a very correct and timely decision. Then the stones started to fall into place in our dealer structure and we gave our first Regional Dealership in 2003.
Then our vision of 2005. One of the issues I value the most is social responsibility. And I think the most important social responsibility is to pay taxes in proportion to your income. We added our social responsibility to our 2005 vision. We said that we would be the tax record holder in our category in our province and we realized it. At the same time, we laid the foundations of our Konya Plaza. Another one of our visions for 2005 was to lay the foundations of exports. We completed our infrastructure preparations and gave our first overseas dealership in 2007. Today, we have Overseas Solution Partners in 24 countries.
In 2008, I realized the most beautiful trip of my life. We went to Azerbaijan and started our first feasibility studies there.
In 2009, Inovax, our in-house magazine covering science, technology, cultural and current issues, which we publish quarterly, started its publication life. And it has been going on for 7 years.
In 2009, our country was in a crisis period. In that period, despite the crisis environment, we carried out major advertising activities. Of course, some people said, "How does AKINSOFT manage all these advertising expenses? They are crazy. I think they are going bankrupt." made comments like that. But the truth of the matter was that we managed our capital in the right way from the beginning.
Our vision for 2010 was to start R&D studies in the field of robotic technologies and we were wrong for 1 year. We stated that we would start our R&D studies in robotic technologies after 15 years, but we started them after 14 years. We had some difficulties in the early days, of course, with no equipment, no tools, and many other shortcomings. Despite all these negativities, in 2011, we introduced AKINCI-1, Turkey's first humanoid robot. Then, we presented the beet planting robot PNCR-1 and PNCR-2 to our farmers for beetroot, the most important industrial plant in the geography we live in. We increased the yield in beet planting to 95%.
In 2013, we shared AKINCI-2 with you. AKINCI-2, which has a structure that can see and perceive people, speak, balance, and use its fingers, received the title of "Turkey's First Humanoid Mobile Robot". After AKINCI-2, AKINCI-3, the last prototype of the series, was produced in 2015. AKINCI-3 (AKINOID) received great acclaim in the local, national, and international press. AKINCI-3 is a very special robot for us because all circuit designs and motors were produced in our robotics department.
Then we broke new ground in Turkey again. Turkey's first robot waiter ADA started to serve at our Cadde Meram Café and Robotics Application Center. We received many negative comments about ADA. No sir, they do nothing, they leave the tray on the table and leave. No sir, they have already done this, etc... Yes, it has been done. A few years ago, in a country, a robot similar to ours came, waited at the edge of the table and you got up and took your service yourself. While we applaud this work far away, why don't we ignore and applaud these magnificent robots made by our own children from our own country? Despite all these criticisms, ADA H3 (Robot Hostess ADA), inspired by our ADA and AKINCI robots, has been completed. We will soon be able to see ADA the Hostess distributing brochures at airports and bus stations, and promoting products in shopping malls and markets.
While carrying out all these activities, AKINSOFT developed its projects with its own capital and AKINSOFT engineers without any capital support.
AKINSOFT is a visionary company. 20 years ago, we have fulfilled our visions one by one until today. And in 2015, we laid the foundations of our humanoid robot factory. I have spent 20 years to be able to say this sentence on behalf of myself, and as AKINSOFT, we have again broken new ground in Turkey. I can even say it is a first in the world. Because there is no other organization in the world that has been established for the mass production of robots. We have achieved a first in the world. Our factory will open its doors to people after it becomes operational, will host them and this first will be shared with everyone.
In 2023, on the 100th anniversary of our Republic and the 28th anniversary of AKINSOFT, we will set our sights on the heavens together. We will start our R&D activities in the field of space studies and establish AKINSOFT Space Technologies R&D Base and AKINSOFT High Technology University.
Our work in the field of high technology will first add value to our geography and then to all humanity. As I conclude my lines with my own words, "NATIONS THAT DON'T GIVE TECHNOLOGY THE IMPORTANCE IT NEEDS ARE CONDEMNED TO BE SLAVES, THINKING THAT THEY ARE FREE IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES." I would like to thank you all for giving the necessary importance to technology.
Ph.D. Özgür AKIN
AKINSOFT Chairman of the Board