Young People from Abroad and International Students Attend TEKNOFEST Hosted by YTB

TEKNOFEST, the world’s largest aviation and technology festival, once again opened its doors in İstanbul this year. As in previous years, YTB actively participated in the festival and launched various projects to ensure that citizens living abroad could closely follow the event.

Inviting young people who were born and raised in Europe—especially those studying in engineering fields—YTB also enabled international students studying in Türkiye to observe the country’s national technology initiatives firsthand this year.

Within this scope, YTB brought 183 international students and 58 young engineering candidates from around the world to the TEKNOFEST Aviation, Space, and Technology Festival held in İstanbul. The young participants had the chance to examine developments in aviation, space industries, and modern technologies on-site, while also engaging directly with entrepreneurs and investors operating in the sector.

Throughout the festival, students took part in numerous activities such as air shows, concerts, stage performances, educational workshops, simulation experience areas, a planetarium, and science shows.

 
They Met Through a YTB Program and Developed a Lighting Robot for Disaster Zones

Young people from the diaspora studying mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, and aerospace engineering, who met during a YTB-organized visit to TEKNOFEST Adana 2024, came together after returning to their countries and formed a team to carry out an important project.


Team leader Ünal Yalçın Şipal explained the motivation behind their initiative as follows: “I believe the Turkish diaspora in Europe should be represented at TEKNOFEST with more projects and with teams formed by Turks living abroad. Instead of participating in the next TEKNOFEST merely as visitors, we wanted to be active participants.”

After nearly six months of work, the team developed a lighting robot capable of automatically climbing wall surfaces, addressing one of the key problems experienced during disasters: the lack of adequate lighting. Their project successfully advanced to the finals following an intensive development process.

Türkiye’s first astronaut Alper Gezeravcı also met with the young people from the diaspora and answered their questions.

 “You Represent Us in the Best Way Possible”

Emphasizing their responsibility toward the youth, who he described as the guarantors of the future, Gezeravcı said: “We always keep in mind our duty toward our young brothers and sisters, who are the guarantee of our future, and we see this responsibility as our greatest source of motivation. You are the ones who bear the hardships of living abroad. Meeting a fellow Turkish citizen in the countries where you live is a great joy. But an even greater joy is that, after all the difficulties endured by our elders who first migrated there, we now represent our country properly and deservedly at the level we have reached today.”

 

At TEKNOFEST, the full-scale model of the Milli Muharip Uçak, Türkiye’s fifth-generation fighter jet developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries, was displayed for the first time. Young participants also showed great interest in many domestic and national technologies such as the Atak helicopter, Hürkuş, Gökbey, the Anka and Aksungur unmanned aerial vehicles, the Hürjet jet trainer and light attack aircraft, the Cezeri Flying Car, and the Bayraktar TB2 UAV.

One of the groups that left a strong mark on TEKNOFEST this year was the international students who participated with the support of YTB.

Formed within the “Kayseri International Student Academy 2025” project carried out in cooperation with YTB and the Medeniyetin Burçları Association, the Ventus TEKNOFEST team—consisting entirely of international students—succeeded in reaching the finals in the TEKNOFEST Unmanned Helicopter Category with their unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) project.

 

With their project, the Ventus team not only achieved success at TEKNOFEST but also earned a special invitation to IDEF 2025, one of the world’s leading defense industry fairs.

 

Composed of students from Mali, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ivory Coast, Syria, Pakistan, and Indonesia, the team will deliver their final presentation under the slogan:“We Are Waiting for You With Our Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.”


Another team consisting of international students received the Best Poster Award in the “3T in Oncology Competition,” a category that promotes the development of personalized and precision treatment technologies and aims to offer innovative solutions in cancer treatment.

YTB President Abdulhadi Turus met with both young people from the diaspora and international students at the festival, closely examining their projects.

Emphasizing how important it is for young people in the diaspora and international students to witness Türkiye’s momentum in technology—especially in the defense industry—Turus said:“TEKNOFEST is a powerful vision that broadens the horizons of our youth and unites their dreams under the same sky. From our young people living abroad to our kinsmen and to international students coming from all around the world, everyone has become a part of this vision. We wholeheartedly believe that when they return to their home countries, they will carry this excitement and inspiration with them. The fact that the teams we support have reached the finals and won awards is an indescribable source of happiness for us. It is of great value to us that young people from the diaspora and international students witness firsthand the momentum our country has achieved, particularly in the defense industry.”

Speaking about the festival’s role as a major source of inspiration for international students and young people from the diaspora, Turus stated:
“Showing them the level Türkiye has reached increases their motivation for future projects. Being here today with young people who have bold ideas and the courage to push boundaries strengthens our hope for the future. We wholeheartedly believe that future TEKNOFESTs will bring together even greater dreams, more ambitious projects, and youth who know no limits.

The words expressed by our young participants are particularly valuable: ‘We have never seen such an event in our lives; we are so happy and proud to be part of it.’ These statements clearly demonstrate the value and impact of our work. Today, the grandchildren of citizens who once went abroad as workers are stepping onto the TEKNOFEST stage as engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs. This transformation is both the result of their determination and the most concrete indicator of the level Türkiye has reached.
We aim to strengthen the ties of our citizens living abroad with Türkiye across all fields—from culture to art, and from technology to science. TEKNOFEST is the strongest embodiment of this effort.”