Bayraktar calls TEKNOFEST a ‘confidence revolution’ at opening

Selçuk Bayraktar, chairman of the TEKNOFEST board and the Türkiye Technology Team Foundation, described the festival as a "confidence revolution" against defeatism in his opening address Wednesday in Şanlıurfa, where the technology showcase opened its 15th edition amid record participation from domestic and international competitors.

Record participation across Türkiye and world

Holding its 15th festival since its 2018 launch, TEKNOFEST has grown from a "seedling" into a major technology movement, Bayraktar said, noting that more than 730,000 teams and over 1.6 million young people from all 81 provinces of Türkiye and 97 countries had applied to compete in 62 categories. "These are not just numbers. They are Türkiye’s changing story," he said, highlighting the participation of children from southeastern Türkiye who are learning artificial intelligence and robotics at DENEYAP Technology Workshops.

Describing Şanlıurfa as "the zero point of history," Bayraktar said the province stands among the lands where humanity first transitioned to settled life, developed agriculture and laid the foundations of civilization. Referring to the region's climate, he noted that systems tested at noon in the Urfa heat will function anywhere in the world — and even in space.

National initiative expands beyond aviation

The National Technology Initiative extends far beyond aviation into fields, factories, laboratories, hospitals and universities, Bayraktar said, explaining that the program aims to convert ideas into economic value, dreams into production and technology into prosperity for Türkiye. "The National Technology Initiative is not only in the sky. It is in the fields, factories, laboratories, hospitals, workshops and universities," he stated, adding that the goal remains high technology, domestic production and value-added exports.

Agricultural technologies formed a central theme of the address, with Bayraktar warning that food security has become more critical than ever in the current era. "We can no longer view agriculture simply as a traditional sector. Agriculture must become one of the high-technology fields of the future," he said, pointing to next-generation national agricultural technologies, AI-supported solutions and genetic science as priority areas for development.

Technology must serve humanity, Bayraktar says

Addressing the rapid transformation driven by artificial intelligence, Bayraktar cautioned that AI should be viewed as a tool that expands human potential rather than a replacement for human judgment. "Technology is a tool. It is the human who determines its direction and must make the final decision," he said, emphasizing that the objective is to bring science together with conscience, intelligence with morality, and power with justice.

TEKNOFEST Southeast will continue through Oct. 4, hosting exhibitions, air shows and the finals of technology competitions across 14 categories in the southeastern province.