A home in Singapore for Turkish and Turkic minds in deep tech

Why it exists

Singapore has one of the densest deep-tech ecosystems in Asia: research institutes, university incubators, corporate R&D, and a startup scene inside walking distance of each other. A steady number of Turkish and Turkic researchers, engineers and founders work inside it, spread across NUS, NTU, SMU, SUTD, A*STAR, and companies from Dyson to early-stage startups. Until recently they mostly did not know one another.

The Turquoise Dot exists to close that gap, and to do it through the work rather than around it. The premise is that people connect better over a real technical conversation than over a social calendar. So the format is a talk with an argument in it, honest questions afterwards, and then Turkish tea.

How a deep dive works

One topic per evening, chosen because someone in the room is genuinely working on it. A main talk from a researcher, a second talk or a lightning talk from industry, and open Q&A that is allowed to be difficult. Roughly two and a half hours, starting in the early evening so people can come after work.

Venues rotate deliberately. The first evening was at SMU Connexion, hosted by the SMU Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The second was at Illinois ARCS in CREATE Tower. The third is at Infuse Theatre in Fusionopolis, with the venue hosted by A*STAR. Rotating means each event introduces the community to a different part of Singapore's research landscape, and it means no single institution owns the group.

Attendance is free and always will be. Registration runs through Luma because it handles capacity and reminders, not because there is anything to pay.

The corridor

A deep-tech corridor between Türkiye and Singapore already exists in fragments: researchers who trained in one and work in the other, startups looking at Southeast Asia as a market, universities with overlapping interests. The community's second purpose is to widen it. In practice that means research links, startup exchange, and opening doors toward internships and research positions in both directions, particularly for students and early-career researchers who have the least access to those doors.

Who comes

Students, PhD candidates, postdocs, research scientists, engineers, founders, and people working in industry who want to hear what the research side is actually finding. Turkish and Turkic attendees are the core, and the local deep-tech ecosystem around them is equally welcome. Nobody is asked where they are from at the door, and nobody needs to speak Turkish.

How it is run

A small core team runs the community as volunteers. There are no membership fees and no paid staff. Registration as a Society in Singapore is under way, which will put the community on a formal footing, give it a constitution, and let it hold partnership agreements in its own name rather than a founder's.

Partner and sponsor interest is being gathered for 2027. Events stay free for attendees regardless.

Where it is going

Four deep dives a year, a widening set of host institutions, and a core team larger than three. If you want to speak, host an evening, or help run the community, the address below reaches all of us.