The company started out with research and development at its Kayseri facilities with the aim of producing a fabric not injurious to health using nanotechnology that would provide healthier sleep for consumers. However the project yielded unexpected results, creating a fabric that can be used in a wide range of fields from construction to the defense industry. The "Biocare" fabric blocks electromagnetic waves from electronic appliances such as mobile phones, microphones, microwave ovens and wireless communication devices.
İstikbal held a press conference yesterday to introduce the fabric at which Chairman Memduh Boydak said they would begin on May 1 to use the fabric in mattress and quilt production for domestic and foreign markets. "The products will be exported to the United States first," he said, adding that while the fabric for consumer use would exported to the US simultaneously with the domestic Turkish release, the company preferred that Biocare in its non-consumer forms -- such as for the defense industry -- be released in Turkey first.
Boydak said the fabric was the result of a quest for innovation, noting Biocare's potential application in the production of communication cables, maternity clothes and a myriad of other products.
The executive also noted that his group was one of Turkey's leading firms and had one of the highest rates of successful patent applications. He added that they had allocated $12.5 million to R&D last year and planned to spend $15 million this year. In response to a question, Boydak said they were going to use Biocare in mattresses first, as it is their field of expertise, and development of the product for other fields would depend on the demand in those sectors. He also said the company was in talks with representatives of more than 20 different sectors about Biocare.
Boydak said the high-tech fabric would be produced at their Boyteks facilities -- Turkey's second-largest mattress fabric producer, with an annual production capacity of 3.5 million square meters -- in Kayseri.
İstikbal executive board member Bekir Boydak, responsible for marketing, said the new innovation would increase their competitiveness in developed countries in particular.
İstikbal Vice General Manager for Technical Developments Mesut Yiğit explained the concept behind Biocare, highlighted that increased daily usage of electronic and electrical devices such as mobile phones and electricity transformers generated non-ionized electromagnetic waves that caused many problems, from stress to sleep disorders and headaches. "We launched studies for Biocare to protect humans from these waves at least while they are sleeping," he said. Yiğit said the studies lasted one year and 150 people were involved in Biocare's research and development, under a YTL 1 million budget. The fabric was produced by using nano-technology fibers through a special knitting method. Yiğit said no chemicals had been used in the production of the fabric and he added it could be machine-washed and ironed.
Yiğit said the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) had certified that the fabric blocked 98.5 percent of waves between the frequency of 500 kilohertz and 6 gigahertz. The Germany-based Hohenstein Institute has certified that Biocare reduces bacteria on it by 99.95 percent.
As part of the project, 130 different fabrics were produced and the final product was tested by many domestic and international institutions including the National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptology (UEAKE), the TÜBİTAK Bursa Test and Analysis Laboratory (BUTAL), Ege University, Fatih University, Erciyes University, the SATRA Technology Center and the European School for Industrial Mathematics (ESIM).
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