Gokmen Ozturkmen

I started out on the machines themselves. At Applied Materials I looked after the deep-UV inspection systems that check chip masks at Intel Ireland, finding defects measured in nanometres. After six months of shadowing I was the only engineer on site, responsible for around half a billion dollars’ worth of tools. I automated the engineers’ shift handovers, and spotted a software fault across half the fleet that R&D had missed, which became a global investigation.

In my spare hours I taught myself to build with AI. My first product, Vono, a call assistant for trades businesses, reached about €10k in monthly recurring revenue within three months. I stopped working on it because I wanted to build something much bigger, and left Applied Materials to do that.

Construction runs in the family. My father directed the M50 upgrade in Dublin for SIAC, then spent years on major projects in the Gulf with El Seif, including the world’s largest women’s university in Riyadh. His last project there, also in Riyadh, was the longest tunnel in the Middle East, and it won several awards. I’ve managed construction projects myself, and through family and work I know people across the industry in Ireland, Turkey, the Gulf and Central Asia.

I grew up between Turkey, Ireland, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and arrived in Limerick at six without a word of English. In Riyadh I presented the public events at the Turkish National School, was first violin at the American International School, and won the FAL Compound chess championship in 2009, at nine. Before engineering I produced music, and my work was recognised online by WondaGurl, a producer for Travis Scott. I also edited video for companies including DMZ Automotive in the UK, and I still care a lot about how things look and sound.