Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country will transform the TechnoFest festival for aviation and space technology into a global brand by organizing it in friendly and allied countries, starting with Azerbaijan.

This came in a speech, Saturday, during his visit to the fourth edition of the Technovist Festival at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, and Anadolu Agency contributes to it as a “global media partner.”

In the beginning, Erdogan expressed his deep gratitude for “visiting the best aviation, space and technology festival around the world, again this year.”

He pointed out that the demand for participation in “TechnoFest” is increasing year after year, adding that many young Turkish people are eagerly awaiting the dates of registration for the competitions within the framework of the festival.

He added, “The festival embraces the rich capabilities and experiences of our country, where successful scientists, engineers, technicians, researchers and astronauts who have the ability to shape a bright future for Turkey will participate here.”

He expressed his hope that the enthusiastic young people participating today in “Technovist” will become Turkey’s future builders towards its goals for the years 2053 and 2071.

He stressed that Technovist attracts the attention of all segments of society, from 7 years old to 70 years old.

He added that the sky of Istanbul this year witnessed wonderful air shows by the Turkish star teams, Solo Turk, Aksungor and Atak helicopters, the parachute jump team, Harkush, Gokbay and Bayraktar TB2, in addition to the Akinci marches, which are a source of pride for Turkey around the world. .

He said that Turkey has produced “Atak” helicopters with its capabilities, and thanks to them it succeeded in breaking the back of terrorism inside and outside the country, expressing his pride over these developments.

Erdogan indicated that the festival also witnessed for the first time the presentation of the local Turkish car “TOGG”, which is approaching the date of its launch in the market and the people benefiting from it.

And he indicated that the “Technofest” festival began its journey in 2018 through 14 technology competitions, to which 20,000 people applied.

He explained that in the 2021 edition, the number of competitions increased to 35, and the number of contestants increased 10 times to reach 200,000.

He pointed out that competitions are held in many civil fields as well, from designing flying cars to communication technologies, artificial intelligence in health, digital technologies in industry, biotechnology, innovation, agriculture, tourism, environment and energy.

The Turkish president stressed that the “Tiknofest” festival succeeded in drawing the attention of the region and the world in a very short time, with the participation of students and innovators from 88 countries.

He continued, “Just as our drones decorate the headlines of international newspapers, Technovest should be at the top of the global media agenda.”

He explained that the steps Turkey has taken during the last 19 years (since the Justice and Development Party took power) have a very large share in the successes achieved in the field of local and national technology.

He stated that his government is preparing the infrastructure for the technology campaign launched by the “Technovist” festival and the Turkish youth, through the investments and leaps it has achieved over the course of 19 years.

He said the government has established world-class research centers by providing comprehensive support to universities, and increased technology development areas in which companies can gather and join forces, bringing the number to 89.

The Turkish president pointed out that the share of research and development expenditures in the national income exceeded 1 percent for the first time, after it was less than 5 per thousand in 2003.

He stressed that “this is a success story in itself, but it is never sufficient to achieve the goals we expect, because today we are not seeking rescue, but rather we are working to build a great and strong Turkey.”

He stressed that the way to do so passes through possessing qualified human resources and investing in people. And now the young men are standing in front of me.”

(Anatolia)