Turkish premier tech event TEKNOFEST TRNC 2025 kicks off

The highly anticipated TEKNOFEST TRNC 2025 opened its doors Thursday in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), bringing together thousands of tech enthusiasts, innovators, and visitors from around the world.

The four-day event is taking place at the old Ercan Airport in the capital Lefkosa, under the auspices of the TRNC Presidency, and features a packed schedule of competitions, air shows, exhibitions, and workshops.

Over 47,000 people from 22 countries applied to participate in this year's competitions, with 268 teams and 1,083 finalists making it through to the final round. Of the finalists, 334 are women and 749 are men.

The competitions are in six main categories and 13 sub-categories, highlighting innovations in aerospace, robotics, software, and other cutting-edge fields.

Like every year, TEKNOFEST TRNC also has many promotional and event stands.

There are 116 stands in total, including 81 stakeholder stands, 11 sponsor stands, four participating companies/institutions stands and 20 food court participants.

During the festival, flight demonstrations with national and indigenous aerial vehicles will also be held, with Bayraktar AKINCI, Bayraktar TB2, HURKUŞ, ANKA, AKSUNGUR, Gendarmerie Steel Wings, ATAK helicopter, Turkish Stars, SOLOTURK and many other vehicles all taking flight.

Organized by the Turkish Technology Team (T3) Foundation and Türkiye's Industry and Technology Ministry, TEKNOFEST has been held annually since 2018 with the support of dozens of government bodies, private sector partners, and universities.

Anadolu continues to serve as a global communications partner for the festival.

While the event is traditionally held in various Turkish cities in even-numbered years and in Istanbul in odd-numbered years, the TRNC has become the second international host after Azerbaijan, which welcomed TEKNOFEST in 2022.

In 2024, the event in the southern Turkish city of Adana drew some 1.1 million visitors.