Teknofest opens its doors in İzmir

İZMİR

Türkiye’s largest technology and space festival, Teknofest, opened its doors in the western province of İzmir on Sept. 27, with expectations of attracting millions of participants and featuring hundreds of competing projects in the third and last edition of the event for this year.

Taking place at Çiğli Airport from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, Teknofest İzmir hosts a diverse array of technology and space-themed events, ranging from technology and entrepreneurship competitions to educational workshops, from exhibitions to a series of concerts.

"The world's largest aerospace, space and technology festival, Teknofest, continues its magnificent journey in İzmir, following its previous successes in Istanbul and Ankara, marking the third and final stop in the celebration of the centenary of the Republic in our country's three major cities. İzmir, the pearl of the Aegean Region, will be the last destination,” said a statement published on the organization’s official website.

"Teknofest İzmir, embracing millions with the vision of the 'National Technology Movement' for a fully independent Türkiye, will once again elevate the excitement and enthusiasm to the skies."

In addition, Türkiye's domestic air defense products, including Hürkuş, Gökbey, Aksungur, Bayraktar TB2, Akıncı, Atak and Anka, will grace the event with aerial displays. The festival's energy will be further elevated by parachute teams affiliated with the Turkish army and police, showcasing daring jumps.

Teknofest will also organize the Deneyap (try and do) Idea Marathon and Deneyap Makeathon Competition for the first time in İzmir. These competitions aim to enhance the idea development and presentation skills of students who have received training in several workshops. Additionally, “they also aim to cultivate a generation that gains experience in product development and brand building.”

The inaugural competition in İzmir received preliminary applications from 2,979 students in 1,005 teams, with 408 teams and 1,301 students advancing to the next round. Following video presentations during the semi-finals, 32 teams and 102 students were granted the opportunity to become finalists.

Providing information about the event to the press, İzmir Governor Süleyman Elban stated that he invited President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and SpaceX founder Elon Musk to the festival.

The second festival of Teknofest this year, which took place at Etimesgut Airport in Ankara from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3, welcomed a total of 943,000 visitors.

With the goal of "Building a Technologically Advancing Türkiye," the festival hosted the largest and most rewarding technology competitions in Turkish history. In a first for Ankara, the Teknofest Entrepreneurship Competition saw 34 startups claim a total prize pool of 3.75 million Turkish Liras.