Türkiye Innovation Week to host 100 speakers, thousands of participants this year

Türkiye Innovation Week (TIW25) will begin on Oct. 9, featuring 100 speakers and thousands of participants with the theme “Tomorrow: Now, the future has never felt this close,” emphasizing artificial intelligence (AI) and competition.

Kutlu Karavelioglu, deputy chair of Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM), told Anadolu that the three-day event will be held at Halic Congress Center in Istanbul.

“We are presenting an extremely rich program with a main stage, side stages, digital experiences areas, masterclasses, and workshops, while preparing to host over 100 speakers and thousands of participants in seven different halls,” he said.

Karavelioglu said the event is aimed at showing the world that Türkiye is taking every necessary step for its future as AI is transforming every field, ranging from manufacturing to education, and health to finance, among others.

He said this year’s event will feature key topics like the impact of AI on global competition, Türkiye’s AI initiative, the design changes in creative industries, evolving work and career models, the making of billion-dollar AI ventures, and visions of countries and success models.

Karavelioglu noted the event will feature a strong lineup of speakers, including “the living legend of football,” Pierluigi Collina, who is the chair of the FIFA Referees Committee.

He said this year’s event approaches innovation as a transformation of culture, ways of thinking, and social values.

“We developed sustainable innovation programs in line with our new goals and strategies,” he said.

He mentioned InovaTIM, launched at Türkiye Innovation Week 2015, became one of the country’s largest open innovation ecosystems, through which high school and university students are provided training related to AI, tech, research and development, and entrepreneurship.

Karavelioglu said that innovation is one of the key areas via which Türkiye’s goal of becoming one of the top 10 exporters can be achieved.

He noted that TIM designed its innovation strategies in line with Türkiye’s digital and green transformation process for sustainability.

In addition, TIM and the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Institution (TUBITAK) launched a green innovation technology mentorship program within the Türkiye Green Industry Project, which was made by TUBITAK and the small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) administration KOSGEB with the funding from the World Bank and coordination from the Turkish Industry and Technology Ministry.

“Our AI-powered sustainability platform, GREENTIM, is serving exporters,” he said. “Companies can perform analyses needed for the European Green Deal as well as carbon emission calculations in line with the ISO 14064-1 standard.”

“The Türkiye Innovation Week is our largest platform embodying this strategic integration,” he added.