Turkey’s biggest aero event set to kick off

ISTANBUL

Teknofest, Turkey’s largest aerospace and technology gathering and the world’s second-biggest aviation event, will kick off on Sept. 21 in Istanbul.

The five-day festival, jointly organized by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3) and the Industry and Technology Ministry, is going to last until Sept. 26 in Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport.

The festival will be open between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. to all visitors who have proof of either two COVID-19 vaccinations or a negative PCR test.

Allowing young people to showcase their abilities in technological fields, such as rocketry, robotics and aerospace design, the event is expected to host hundreds of thousands of people this year.

The event will include a host of activities, such as air shows with warplanes and helicopters, seminars, summits, tournaments and fairs.

The tech contests will be organized into 34 different categories this year in line with the organization, which also will be live-streamed through related institutional social media channels.

In addition to the usual areas of expertise, the contestants will also compete in swarm simulation, culture and tourism technologies, drone technologies, artificial intelligence, industrial technologies and other areas, while high school students will compete in polar research projects.

Contestants who succeed in ranking high in the competition will be rewarded up to 4 million Turkish Liras ($462,000) in total.