Technoparks, incubators and TEKMER for a digital company, where is incubation gained?
A digital company (dijital şirket) cannot meet its incubation condition with a technopark address alone: the law asks for founders who have qualified as incubation entrepreneurs under Law 4691, and that status describes early-stage entrepreneurs based in incubation centres (Official Gazette 33270, 4 June 2026). KOSGEB, Türkiye’s Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization, funds TEKMER technology centres, but that money goes to the operator, not the founders inside. As of 14 October 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Technology has not published the digital company definition.
For a software team in Istanbul getting ready to incorporate in autumn 2026, the question “technopark or TEKMER?” has no single answer in any official source. What they can do today is learn the official definition of each structure and think early about which document will prove their incubation status. Our digital company page collects every question on the topic.
How does the law word the incubation condition for a digital company?
Two conditions apply together. Article 11 of Law 7582 adds a paragraph to Law 5746 that ties the chamber fee exemption to both of them: the company must be founded by entrepreneurs who have qualified as incubation entrepreneurs, and it must be set up and run in line with the definition the Ministry will set. The exemption covers fees and dues to TOBB, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye, for up to three years; it says nothing about tax or rent.
How do technoparks, incubation centres and TEKMER differ for a digital company founder?
A technopark is a zone, an incubation centre is a facility inside or outside that zone, and a TEKMER is a centre supported through a KOSGEB programme. Here’s something most people don’t know: the money in the TEKMER programme is the centre’s budget, not the tenant’s.
Incubation centres can also open outside the zone
An incubation centre gives young businesses office space, equipment, management support and access to finance under one roof. Under Law 7263, a managing company can open one outside the zone with an Evaluation Board decision and Ministry permission. Only incubation entrepreneurs may sit in these off-zone centres.
What do TEKMER support and technopark exemptions offer a digital company?
Nothing directly. TEKMER amounts fund the centre, and technopark exemptions follow their own legislation. Under today’s law, digital company status brings only the chamber fee exemption, and that too depends on the definition.
TEKMER amounts are the centre’s budget
Per the KOSGEB programme page, Establishment Support is non-repayable, up to three years and TL 19,518,000. Performance Support runs for up to seven years with TL 45,542,000, and Acceleration Support for up to ten years with TL 65,060,000 on a repayable basis. The annual upper limit for 2026 is TL 6,506,000.
Technopark exemptions are not an automatic digital company right
Technopark tax exemptions work under their own conditions and are not linked to digital company status. Law 7263 requires taxpayers in a zone with exempt earnings of TL 1,000,000 or more to channel 2% of them into venture capital or to entrepreneurs in incubation centres, with an annual cap of TL 20,000,000.
How does the incubation condition affect different digital company founders?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Early-stage software and design teams move ahead
- Founders without a company can start in pre-incubation
- Agencies, online shops and classic service businesses may struggle
Early-stage founders working on software or R&D sit closest to it. Traditional service businesses and grown-up companies may fall outside. Large technopark taxpayers feel it indirectly, as the source of funds channelled to incubation entrepreneurs.
Early-stage software and design teams move ahead
The legal definition of an incubation entrepreneur lists R&D, technological innovation, software and design. A team building a SaaS product, writing a mobile app or designing a product fits that description best.
Founders without a company can start in pre-incubation
Pre-incubation exists for founders who do not yet have a taxpaying company. The Ministry’s 2021 form describes it as consulting, mentoring and validation of the project idea for unincorporated founders. Trying this door first suits a founder who wants to cut the coat according to the cloth.
Agencies, online shops and classic service businesses may struggle
A digital agency, a marketplace seller or an accounting office may still not match the R&D and software activity in the incubation definition. For them, the incubation condition may be the hardest hurdle.
Why does a digital company candidate’s online footprint matter for incubation?
Because the first proof of your activity is often the product on the screen. A product page, a demo and an updated roadmap make R&D, software and design work concrete in a meeting with a centre. Official sources do not list the documents centres ask for, so ask each one directly.
A product page and a demo make your activity visible
A one-page site explaining the idea makes software and design work tangible at the evaluation table. Screenshots, release notes and a demo video show it is not an idea gathering dust on a shelf.
Plan digital costs such as platform registration fees separately
KOSGEB’s renewed Entrepreneur Support Programme covers the platform registration fee of businesses that fit the digital company definition. Who that support covers is explained in our article on KOSGEB platform fee support.
What should a digital company founder do this week?
There are three concrete tasks. Ask your target centre in writing how it documents incubation status, describe your activity under separate R&D, software and design headings, and line up the incorporation steps now. You don’t need the definition to prepare, but you do need it before you decide.
Ask the centre for an acceptance and status letter
Write to the technopark managing company, the off-zone incubation centre or the TEKMER operator and ask which document will show your incubation entrepreneur status. Confirm the rent rate and the allocation period in the same exchange.
Put the online incorporation steps in order
When you decide to incorporate, check which MERSIS, e-signature and KEP steps can be done online today in our guide to online setup with MERSIS. MERSIS is Türkiye’s central trade registry system. We also run this preparation with founders through our digital consulting service.
Quick Summary
- The digital company fee exemption requires both a qualified incubation entrepreneur as founder and a fit with the Ministry’s definition (Official Gazette 33270).
- The Ministry’s digital company definition had not been published as of 14 October 2026.
- Rent for an incubation firm cannot exceed 25% of the zone’s per-square-metre fee with an R&D project, or 50% without one (Ministry information form, 2023).
- TEKMER support goes to the operator, and KOSGEB’s TEKMER page does not mention digital companies.
- Technopark exemptions do not come automatically with digital company status; each follows its own legislation.
Short Glossary
- Incubation entrepreneur
- Incubation entrepreneur is the legal term used to describe an early-stage founder working on R&D, software or design inside an incubation centre.
- Pre-incubation
- Pre-incubation is the stage used to let a founder without a taxpaying company stay in an incubation centre for a limited time.
- TEKMER
- TEKMER is the short name used to refer to technology centres supported by the KOSGEB Technology Centre Support Programme.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Step
If you would like to weigh technopark, incubation centre and TEKMER options against your business together, fill in the consult your expert form.
The definition and conditions of the digital company scheme are not final yet; check the latest information with the Ministry of Industry and Technology, KOSGEB and the Official Gazette before deciding. This is not legal or financial advice.
Support amounts and conditions can change; check the current terms on the institution’s official page before applying. This article is not financial or legal advice.
Sources: Ministry of Industry and Technology, technopark incentives form (last updated 28 August 2023, accessed 14 October 2026) · Official Gazette 33270, Law 7582 (4 June 2026) · Law 7263, Official Gazette 31384 (3 February 2021) · KOSGEB, Technology Centre Support Programme (accessed 14 October 2026)
Updated: October 2026
Sık Sorulan Sorular
Under Law 4691, an incubation entrepreneur is an early-stage entrepreneur based in an incubation centre and working on R&D, technological innovation, software or design. The Ministry sets their qualifications and how long they may stay in the centre by regulation.
Nobody can yet say whether a desk in a TEKMER or an off-zone incubation centre is enough to count as “having qualified”. The Ministry’s digital company definition and the related regulation will settle this. Until then, no structure can promise that a company set up there becomes a digital company.
Law 4691 treats as entrepreneurs the individuals and legal entities that want to use, or already use, the services and facilities of a technology development zone. Teknopark İstanbul’s 2018 print of the law uses the same wording. Being in a technopark does not, on its own, make anyone an incubation entrepreneur.
Yes. Per the Ministry’s information form, rent for an incubation firm with a publicly funded R&D project is capped at 25% of the zone’s per-square-metre fee, and 50% for others, for up to 36 months. A founder without a taxpaying company can stay up to 18 months in pre-incubation. The form dates from 2023, so confirm the rates with the centre.
In the KOSGEB Technology Centre Support Programme, the beneficiary is the TEKMER operator and the technopark managing company. The operator must be a joint-stock company, with a university or a technopark managing company among its founders. The page does not say what entrepreneurs inside receive.
The phrase “digital company” does not appear anywhere on KOSGEB’s TEKMER page. Renting a desk in a TEKMER does not show that you fit the digital company definition or that you hold incubation status. If an advert promises this, ask for its written legal basis before you sign anything.
No, not automatically. Digital company status depends on the Ministry’s unpublished definition and on the incubation entrepreneur condition, and the phrase digital company does not appear on KOSGEB’s TEKMER page.
According to the Ministry’s information form, founders without a taxpaying company can be placed in an incubation centre for up to 18 months under pre-incubation. Confirm the current rule with the centre.
Under today’s law, digital company status brings only the chamber and exchange fee exemption. Technopark exemptions follow their own legislation and are not granted automatically to digital companies.