'Technology should be used for world's peace, welfare'

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Technological developments should be assigned for all humanity's peace and welfare, Selcuk Bayraktar, the chairman of the Turkish Technology Team Foundation, said on Wednesday.

Social media platforms aim to make people familiar with each other but currently turned into uncontrolled powers under a few monopolized companies, Bayraktar said during the launching of Turkey's largest aerospace and technology event -- Teknofest.

The event will be held on Sept. 21-26 in Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

Bayraktar stressed that these companies want a single search engine, only one social media platform, and just one e-commerce web-site.

"If we stay away from producing technology by watching this situation, we will give our sovereignty to the companies," he underlined.

Mentioning the country's "National Technology Move", he said Turkey will have full independence in several areas thanks to this initiative.

- Teknofest 2021

Touching on Teknofest event, he said the number of competitions and competitors have been increasing each year.

While around 50,000 young people applied for competitions, last year the figure rose to 100,000 from 84 countries, he noted.

He said that this year the number of applicants will surpass the last year's figure.

The event will host prize competitions in 35 fields such as transportation, drones, satellites, robots, agriculture, biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), and flying car.

Candidates are able to apply for competitions till the end of February.

The festival will also host a number of activities, including seminars, exhibitions, summits, and air shows.

- Competitions

Mehmet Fatih Kacir, the deputy industry and technology minister, said the event will be hosted by Istanbul but competitions will be organized in several provinces.

Giving details of this year's competitions, he said a number of competitions will be organized this year for the first time, including the health and war technologies.

Ismail Demir, the head of Turkey's Defense Industries Presidency, said the country's new defense and technology projects are proceeding.

Events such as Teknofest is very important for making Turkey a country which is able to produce its own technology, Demir stressed.

- Previous editions

Last year, the third edition of the major technology event was held in Turkey's southeastern Gaziantep province in September.

The event did not accept visitors, and was broadcast live through social media platforms due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2019, the second edition of the event welcomed 1.72 million visitors in Istanbul.

Teknofest is held in the Turkish metropolitan city of Istanbul in odd years, while in others in even years.

Anadolu Agency has been the global communication partner of the event since 2018.