The seventh edition of Teknofest, the world’s largest aviation, space and technology festival, opened its doors on Thursday in Istanbul to defense and technology experts, enthusiasts and visitors of all ages.
Organized by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation) and the Ministry of Industry and Technology, in partnership with several organizations playing a critical role in Türkiye’s national technology development, Teknofest offers a range of activities, including technology competitions, air shows, concerts, talks and events covering various topics.
The first day of the festival saw an impressive turnout. However, major activities, competitions and the official opening ceremony were postponed due to heavy rain in the city.
This year’s festival hosts 41 main competitions in 102 categories, with 332,000 teams and over 1 million competitors participating. The festival promises to showcase technological innovation with prizes and material support amounting to more than TL 13 million ($670,000) and TL 30 million, respectively.
Apart from competitions, numerous institutions exhibit their products and services, including intelligent transportation, biotechnology innovation, chip design, vertical landing rockets, educational technologies and barrier-free living technologies.
Visitors can also view prominent projects of the defense industry, such as Turkish drone magnate Baykar’s unmanned fighter jet, Bayraktar Kızılelma and the state-of-the-art drone Bayraktar Akıncı.
This year’s festival is particularly noteworthy, as it marks the first appearance of the Bayraktar TB3 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone to be deployed on Türkiye’s flagship, the TCG Anadolu, that was most recently introduced into the country’s inventory.
The festival has also become a major event on the international tech scene. The first event was held at Istanbul Airport in 2018, where 4,333 teams and 20,000 young people applied to participate in technology competitions held across 14 different categories. The festival attracted an impressive 550,000 visitors that year.
Following the success of the inaugural festival, the second Teknofest was held at Istanbul Atatürk Airport in 2019. The competition saw a significant increase in participation, with 17,373 teams and 50,000 competitors from 81 provinces and 122 countries vying for top honors in 19 different categories. The festival also set a new record as the "world’s largest aviation festival," with an impressive 1.72 million visitors in 2019.
Starting with the 2020 festival, the organizers decided to switch between Istanbul and different cities in Anatolia each year. As part of this new strategy, Teknofest was held in southeastern Gaziantep province in 2020.
The festival took place at the Gaziantep Middle East Exhibition Center, featuring 21 different categories of technology competitions. The event attracted 100,000 young people from 81 provinces and 84 countries, with 20,197 teams applying. However, due to COVID-19 safety measures, only competitors were allowed to attend the event, and visitors were not permitted.
After Gaziantep, Teknofest was held again at Istanbul Atatürk Airport in 2021. Within the scope of the festival in 2021, some 44,912 teams and 200,000 competitors from 81 provinces and 111 countries applied for the technology competitions held in 35 different categories.
Last year, Teknofest opened abroad for the first time and was held in Azerbaijan’s Baku Crystal Hall.
Ten different technology competitions were held in Teknofest Azerbaijan. Some 1,010 teams and 5,636 competitors applied for participation in these competitions.
The festival recently held its Black Sea event in the Samsun Çarşamba Airport between Aug. 30 and Sept. 4, 2022, and featured 40 technology competitions in focus areas related to the future. Over 600,000 competitors from 154,000 teams representing 81 provinces and 107 countries participated in the competitions.