TÜBİTAK

TEKNOFEST Ankara hosted hundreds of thousands of people from Ankara and neighbouring provinces at Etimesgut Airport. In its 6th year, for the 8th time, the world's largest aviation, space and technology festival had an extraordinary enthusiasm and intense participation despite the torrential rain on the last day.

TEKNOFEST Ankara closing ceremony was held with the participation of Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Minister of Industry and Technology; Mehmet Şimşek, Minister of Treasury and Finance; Haluk Görgün, President of Defence Industry; Selçuk Bayraktar, Chairman of TEKNOFEST Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of T3 Foundation; and Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal, President of TÜBİTAK.

The protocol greeted the participants in the area where a serious crowd participated despite the sudden cooling and rainfall, and took selfies with TEKNOFEST Ankara visitors.

Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır addressed the young people and said, "You chose to draw your own path and follow your own path in spite of those who tried to confine you to moulds. In spite of those who want to stop you by saying that you cannot do it, you cannot succeed, you chose to set off and be on the road. You did not stop, you did not give up, you did not give up. You have built yourself and your personality not only with your projects but also with your will and assertion. We are proud to be your travelling companions. We are happy to remove the stones on your paths."

"We know that just as God has granted us achievements that could not even be imagined 20 years ago, your efforts, sweat of your brow and sweat of your mind will carry us to results that we cannot imagine today." Minister Kacır said, "Just as we have succeeded in the defence industry, we see here in the TEKNOFEST area that we will again achieve great success with the technology initiatives you will establish in all areas from educational technologies to transportation, from space technologies to communication, from agricultural technologies to disaster management. In every TEKNOFEST where we will meet you, we will add new pages to the success stories of the Turkish Century. As long as you keep walking and running. We are always with you, we will always be with you."

Then, the award presentation of the TEKNOFEST contestants, who were entitled to receive awards with their technology-based projects that will shape the future with their ideas and dreams, started.

Participants who received entrepreneurship awards in the field of aerospace and aviation received their awards from Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Minister of Industry and Technology, Mehmet Şimşek, Minister of Treasury and Finance, Haluk Görgün, President of Defence Industry, Selçuk Bayraktar, Chairman of TEKNOFEST Board of Directors, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of T3 Foundation and Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal, President of TÜBİTAK.

TEKNOFEST Ankara, which opened its doors with the enthusiasm of Victory Day, ended on 3 September with the crowd flocking to the area despite the torrential rain.

Evaluating TEKNOFEST Ankara, Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal reminded that TEKNOFEST, which started on 30 August Victory Day, has come to an end and stated that TÜBİTAK is one of the most important actors of this festival of change and transformation. Prof. Mandal stated that they teach all the technologies they have developed by entertaining the citizens and that they try to introduce many technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and chips developed by research centres in the field of information technologies in a few minutes by gamifying them.

"The future is at TEKNOFEST"

Underlining that their aim is to raise awareness among young people and to instil in them the idea of "I can do it too", Prof. Mandal said: "In our semiconductor chip production laboratory, our primary and secondary school children wore overalls and simulated the realistic environment in the clean room and created chips with their own designs. They saw and experienced the model of our main line locomotive. On the one hand, they saw our missiles developed by TÜBİTAK SAGE, on the other hand, they saw our İMECE and 6A satellites at the TÜBİTAK Space stand, and they had a valuable experience not only touching these technologies, but also designing, developing and producing them by making their models in the workshops right next to them. On the other hand, they also learnt how to obtain hydrogen energy.

Turkey's human resources, which are the main component in the design, development and production of the necessary technologies for humanity and the country, are trained from TEKNOFEST. When we held the first TEKNOFEST in 2018, our halls were empty. People were coming, looking and leaving as if they came to a museum. Now there is an intense interest. Now the timidity is over. They ask meaningful and difficult questions because they are curious. Curiosity means the future. And the future is at TEKNOFEST."

Prof. Mandal reminded that the third TEKNOFEST of this year will be held in Izmir on 27 September-1 October, and invited citizens there as well.

Great interest in TÜBİTAK stand

Participants did not leave the TÜBİTAK stand empty even for a moment. Long queues formed in front of the activities in the tent, which was full every moment of the day.

BİLGEM, BİLGEM Metaverse, Bil-Bul Competition and BİLGEM Universe events were organised. Children designed microchips in YİTAL's yellow room simulation.

MAM exhibited Igloos, clothes worn by Turkish researchers at the Poles, clothes specially sewn for the Poles, and Polar Mascots (Albatross, Whale, Polar Bear, Penguin).

Fingerprint Detection at the Crime Scene, Instant Earthquake Observations - Turkey Levels - Instant Measurement of Earth Movements with Seismometer, Age Determination with Carbon-14 Analysis; Application of Different Materials in Microscope, Yogurt Bacteria and Some Moulds Isolated from Foods were shown under the Microscope.

Wastewater Activities; Interesting Experiments with Liquid Nitrogen and Potassium Chlorate - Sugar Reaction; Noise Barrier; Hydrogen Value Chain Demonstration; Carbon Footprint Measurement; Carbon Dioxide Sources and Sinks.

RUTE exhibited the model of E5000, Turkey's first domestic and national Mainline Locomotive and the model of V8 1200 horsepower original diesel locomotive engine, the first product of the Original Engine Family. Spin Bike and Cardboard Model Making activities were organised.

SAGE exhibited KUZGUN and GÖKÇE, and organised Rocket Model Workshop and VR Virtual Reality Experience activities.

TUG organised Solar Observation and Astro Trivia Contest events.

ULAKBİM organised events such as Pardus quiz contest, Complete tasks on Pardus 21 and get a gift, Let's draw Pardus logo with ETAP, Let's take the first step to become a volunteer software developer in Pardus, Let's code with Scratch!

UME organised "measure yourself" activities with body resistance meter, hand force meter and sound level meter activities prepared with the concept of popular science to introduce the participants to measurement.

SPACE exhibited İMECE and TÜRKSAT 6A Satellite models. TÜRKSAT 6A Model Workshop and Space Traveller Game were organised.

A stand was opened in a 75 square metre area for the sale of popular science books appealing to all age groups. Bilim Genç organised a quiz contest for visitors via mobile application.

TÜBİTAK Supported Science Centres (Konya, Kocaeli, Kayseri, Bursa, Üsküdar, Elâzığ, Antalya and Yozgat Science Centres) and Experimentap Technology Workshops Instructors conducted many workshop activities and science demonstrations during TEKNOFEST.

The electric vehicles of 8 university and 4 high school teams that won awards in the Efficiency Challenge Electric Vehicle Races were frequently visited at TEKNOFEST held at Ankara Etimesgut Airport. 45 university and 19 high school team members met with TEKNOFEST visitors who showed great interest in our exhibition tent and explained the vehicles they developed and the racing processes.

In 2 different kiosks in the EC Tent and the book sales stand, Bilim Genç provided visitors with the excitement of a quiz contest via mobile application, while the book souvenir corner in the TÜBİTAK Book sales stand provided both a visual contribution to the souvenir photos of book lovers of all ages who met with TÜBİTAK Publications at TEKNOFEST Ankara and took its place in the memory of the participants as a TEKNOFEST souvenir.

In addition, TÜBİTAK's 1812 - Investment Based Entrepreneurship Support Programme (BiGG), which provides great support for entrepreneurs to implement their business ideas, was also introduced through desks set up in thematic tents.