Güven Karaöz
Güven Karaöz is a management consultant specializing in innovation and entrepreneurship. Since his early role as a University–Industry Collaboration Coordinator, he has been delivering innovation-centered consultancy services with a focus on business model design and transformation. He also works on building entrepreneurship ecosystems within institutions. His work on startup–civil and defense industry collaboration also traces back to this early period. Karaöz has worked in consultancy firms active in innovation and R&D management and took part in the establishment of the R&D center of a logistics company.
Through the consulting firms he has worked with, he has provided R&D center establishment and innovation consultancy services to various organizations such as Kumport Port Operations, Tekfen Agriculture Adana Agripark, Artella Furniture, Lidyum Cyber Security & Software, and Eryaz Software. In 2018, he entered the defense sector by simultaneously working at SSTEK Inc.—Turkey's first venture capital company focused on the defense industry—and the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB). At SSB, he contributed to the Industrial Competency Assessment and Support Program (EYDEP), gaining experience in public–defense industry collaboration.
Following his tenure at SSB, he became a Founding Partner at Binovative Innovation Consulting Inc., where he advised companies such as TUSAŞ and TÜRKSAT in establishing internal entrepreneurship and open innovation management systems. He currently serves as an Independent Board Member at Mepsan Defense and Automotive Inc., focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship. He is also a Board Advisor to the startup Newky (Texinsight), maintaining a strong connection with the startup ecosystem.
As an active contributor to civil society, Karaöz is a member of several working groups under TÜSİAD, including “Entrepreneurship Ecosystem,” “Corporate Entrepreneurship,” and “Bu Gençlikte İş Var!” He is also a member of the ESG Working Group at TKYD (Corporate Governance Association of Turkey), the SME Development Working Group at KalDer Ankara, the Youth, Education, and Entrepreneurship Commission at TÜRKONFED, and the Mirror Committee for TSE ISO56000 Innovation Management System. He is a member of SASAD’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management Working Group and serves on the Executive Board of the Girişim’23 Summit.
Karaöz holds a master’s degree from the Intellectual Property Rights, Technology Policy, and Innovation Management program at FISAUM, Ankara University, where he completed his final project on “The Relationship Between Open Innovation and the Defense Industry.” He also studied strategy development and military strategy at the Turkish War Colleges as a civilian student. He mentors at “Cube Incubation” under Teknopark Istanbul and the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce’s BTM (Commercialization Center of Information), and serves as a jury member in various Teknofest events.
As of 2025, he has been serving as an Independent Member of the Board of Directors at Altınay Defense Technologies Inc., a role he currently continues to hold.