Dr. Mahmut N. Özdemir

At Koç University, I served as Director of Entrepreneurship and Director of KWORKS — one of Türkiye's leading university accelerators — designing systems that took founders from idea to revenue.

At UNVEST, Koç University's investment subsidiary, I made seed decisions and monitored portfolio performance, resulted in a startup portfolio exceeding $100M in valuation within five years.

I was also a co-founder of the Koç University Academic Consultancy Unit, and earlier launched the university's first entrepreneurship course — completed by over 2,000 students.

I provided innovation strategy, open innovation consultancy, and corporate training to Koç Holding and its portfolio companies — including , Aygaz, Bilkom, Koç Finans, Opet Fuchs, Otokar, Otokoç, Tüpraş and Türk Traktör.

I served on the investment committee of Tüpraş Ventures and the startup selection committees of Ford Otosan Driventure and Türkiye İş Bankası Yapay Zeka Fabrikası.

My work appears in the Strategic Management Journal and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, covering corporate–startup collaboration, technology acquisitions, and acqui-hires.

Ph.D. Technology & Innovation Management — Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University M.S. Management Science & Industrial Engineering — Sabancı University B.S. Industrial Engineering (cum laude) — Bilkent University