Dr. Elif Güngör Reis

Where scientific depth meets a global network.

Dr. Elif Güngör Reis holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering and has spent her career at the intersection of research, entrepreneurship, and innovation strategy. Her path began in 2007 as a consultant engineer in the food additive industry, and by 2011 she had founded her own chemical R&D venture, backed by Türkiye’s Ministry of Industry & Technology for pioneering natural-preservative research — work she carried through a co-funded R&D project to completion between 2013 and 2015.

Her advisory work applies that scientific foundation to the practical questions organizations and ventures face when scaling: how R&D should be structured, what a technology is actually worth to an investor, and where the gaps are before due diligence finds them. This is grounded in direct technical achievement — an international patent granted across the EPC, US, and Japan in 2020, and recognition including WIPO’s Best Academic Patent Award and a TEDx talk in 2018. She also holds lead auditor training in quality and food safety management systems, adding a rigorous, standards-based lens to her technical evaluations.

Between 2022 and 2025, she also directed the establishment of a university-affiliated technology development center, managing its intellectual property portfolio and leading university–industry collaboration initiatives from the ground up — experience that now informs how she advises organizations on structuring their own IP strategy and innovation governance.

That work is grounded in an active network of international organizations — advisory and affiliate relationships built from 2022 onward with EIT Food, Space-F, Founder Institute Eastern Europe, FoodHack , Pitch Lounge, Sabancı University SUCool, and the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, that extend her practice beyond any single sector or geography. She also advises on financial due diligence, complementing her technical evaluation work with a financial lens on investment readiness.