On January 16th, the California Turkish American Chamber of Commerce (CATA Chamber) organized its 4th annual business networking event, “ConnecTA 2014 Silicon Valley: Innovation in a Global World.” This event took place at the Hilton Santa Clara and was attended by 200 members of the Silicon Valley business community and 50 representatives of the business community from Turkey.
The CATA Chamber was founded in 2004 in Los Angeles to support Turkish and American entrepreneurs. Its aim is to facilitate successful and effective business relationships between the United States and Turkey. Ten years later, the CATA Chamber continues to develop activities and organize networking events throughout California while also assisting its neighboring states’ members to do the same.
Prominent delegations from Turkey, Canada and other regions of the United States traveled to California to attend ConnecTA 2014 Silicon Valley and to engage in networking discussions before and after the event with representatives from Twitter, Intel, the San Jose Chamber of Commerce and San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. This delegation consisted of 50 representatives from the Young Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (GESIAD), the Turkish American Business Improvement and Development (TABID), the Turkic American Chamber of Commerce (TACC), the Texas Turkish American Chamber of Commerce (TTACC), the Turkish Canadian Chamber of Commerce (TCCC), Turk Telekom, the Istanbul Minerals & Metals Exporters’ Associations (IMMIB) and Turkish Airlines (THY).
ConnecTA 2014 Silicon Valley seeks to share innovative experiences in the United States—in Silicon Valley in particular—with representatives of the business communities in other parts of the United States, in Canada and in Turkey, as well as to present business opportunities in Turkey, the world’s 17th largest economy. ConnecTA 2014 Silicon Valley was sponsored by the Turkish American Health Tourism Association (TAHTA).
The event officially opened at 3:30pm with opening remarks from the President of CATA Chamber. Following the president’s remarks, guests broke out into panel sessions. The first session—“Challenges of Establishing Successful Partnerships”—was moderated by Atakan Peker, Director of Advanced Materials/Senior Scientist at Applied Sciences Laboratory of Washington State University. Panelists included Jessica Alter, CEO of FounderDating’s Founder; Micha Benoliel, CEO of Open Garden Inc.; David Stewart, CEO of Jumpcam; and Soujanya Bhumkar, CEO of Coorliris Founder.
The second session—“Investors: Q&A”—was moderated by Steve Austin, Co-founder of PowerGo Inc. Panelists included Niko Bonatsos, Principal of General Catalyst Partners; Dilek Dayinlarli, Vice President of 212 Ventures; and Allen Taylor, Vice President of Global Network Endeavor.
The third session included two parallel panels. One was on “Entrepreneurship Initiatives in Turkey & How You Could Help.” Speakers included Teknopark Istanbul Deputy General Manager Dr. Ismail Ari, who also served as moderator; and Bitzer Mobile CEO Naem Zafer. The other discussed “Growing and Managing a Venture in Turkey–An Operator’s Perspective.” Speakers included Hazelcast Founder and CEO Talip Ozturk, who also served as moderator; and Yonja Group CEO Dilawar Syed.
The fourth and final session—“Innovation and Salesforce”—was headlined by Salesforce CTO Kedar Doshi.
ConnecTA 2014 Silicon Valley closed with a dinner. Welcome remarks were delivered by Matthew Mahood, President & CEO of San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce. The keynote address was delivered in the form of a presentation on “Innovation in a Global World” by Steve Ciesinski, Vice President and General Manager at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) International and Professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. The dinner was attended by officials from two dozen companies and institutions, including Apple, Google, Twitter, HP, Facebook, Western Digital, Broadcom, Silicon Images, Skype, Applied Materials, Microsoft, AT&T, Cisco, eBay, Qualcomm, Apex Systems, Calix, California State Assembly, StubHub, Stanford Research Institute, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Innowest Inc. and Mobile Action.
The 4th Annual ConnecTA awards were given to Matthew Mahood, Steve Ciesinski, IMMIB Deputy Secretary General Umit Koskan, and TAHTAS President Selman Nalcakan.
