Top Eurasian tech fair opens doors in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Turkish ministers Suat Kılıç (C) and Egemen Bağış (2nd R) cut ribbon to inaugurate opening of CeBIT fair.

Top high technology fair in Eurasia region, CeBIT Eurasia, has opened the doors in Istanbul for prominent global and local actors of the sector, with the focus being on the “urban transformation and technology.”

The four-day event, which is housing CeBIT Eurasia fair and CeBIT Synergy Summit consecutively this year, has started with an opening ceremony yesterday, attended by the ministers and significant figures of the global information and communication technologies (ICT) sector.

During their speeches at the ceremony, Turkish ministers Suat Kılıç and Egemen Bağış, Transportation and Public Transportation Minister of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) Ahmet Kaşif and Polish Management and Digitization Deputy Minister Malgorzata Olszewska had the chance to draw a picture of their governments’ technology policies.

Minister calls tech firms

After highlighting the significance of the fair as an opportunity to address various needs, Turkish Youth and Sports Minister Suat Kılıç called technology giants attending the CeBIT information technologies fair to present bids for providing laptops for 310,000 students at public dormitories.

Kılıç said the government has already established the widest wi-fi network in the country at 500 public dormitories in 81 provinces and now awaits non-profit offers that prioritize the youth’s interest.

“310,000 young people have attained free broadband internet service as part of ‘My Dormitory is My Home My Internet is Free’ project. Now they will need luggable laptops or notebook computers,” he said.

European Union Minister Egemen Bağış’s speech was more focused on Istanbul, which he dubbed “the perfect venue for such a hybrid organization, uniting technology and emotional values.”

“We should think digitally, but act analog and I can’t think of a better a place than Istanbul to underline that,” he said.

Recalling the recent defeat of Istanbul against Tokyo in the Olympics race, Bağış also claimed “the CeBIT fair is a good response to the double standards Istanbul witnessed.”

Winning the Olympics would have brought a lot of technological benefit to Istanbul, but with these organizations Istanbul proves it can achieve these by itself, according Bağış.

As the issues of “urban transformation and technology” and “smart cities and life in smart municipalities” have been decided as the top issues to be tackled through the organization, the transportation technologies are actually expected to stand out at the platform.

The fair that will remain open until Oct. 27, visitors will be exposed to several projects prepared to show how problems related to topics such as growing cities and municipalities, security, transportation, pollution, and infrastructure can be eliminated through ICT solutions.