TEKNOFEST Competition on Digital Technologies in Industry

TEKNOFEST Industrial Digital Technologies Competition is a contest designed to promote technological innovation and support the digital transformation of industry in line with Türkiye’s local and national technology vision. The competition is organized within the framework of the TEKNOFEST Aviation, Space and Technology Festival, bringing together individuals and teams that develop digital solutions for industrial processes with the aim of contributing to the country’s digital industry infrastructure.

^{TEKNOFEST Industrial Digital Technologies Competition (Photo: T3 Foundation)}

The Industrial Digital Technologies Competition aims to foster projects that support Industry 4.0 transformation and generate digital solutions across various domains from production to logistics. Within this scope, the competition seeks to enhance the efficiency of industrial processes reduce costs and promote sustainable production models through digital technologies such as artificial intelligence machine learning big data analytics the Internet of Things IoT digital twin technologies and automation. The core focus of the competition is the design of guided robotic systems capable of moving along predefined routes to transport specific loads from one point to another either through manual control or autonomously for use within factories or warehouses.

The competition is structured into two distinct categories based on participants’ technical levels:

• Basic Category: A category open to beginner-level projects featuring less complex systems.
• Advanced Category: A category evaluating more complex autonomous systems with advanced software and hardware infrastructure.

^{TEKNOFEST Industrial Digital Technologies Competition (Photo: T3 Foundation)}

The competition targets a broad range of participants including students studying in Türkiye and abroad:

• High school students (including open education students),
• University students (associate’s bachelor’s master’s doctoral and open education students),
• Graduates,
• Entrepreneurs and companies,

who may participate as teams. Each team may consist of up to six members; advisors are not included in this number.

The competition consists of three main stages:

1. Technical Competency Form: The first step to assess whether participants’ projects meet the technical requirements of the competition.
2. Project Evaluation Report (PER): A comprehensive report detailing the project’s technical specifications objectives used technologies and design process.
3. Movement and Capability Video: A video demonstration showcasing the developed robot’s ability to execute its assigned task scenarios and concretely illustrating the project’s functionality.

Throughout this process participants have the opportunity to develop not only their technical competencies but also their problem solving teamwork innovation and engineering skills.

^{TEKNOFEST Industrial Digital Technologies Competition (Photo: T3 Foundation)}

The Industrial Digital Technologies Competition is one of the strategic initiatives implemented under Türkiye’s National Technology Initiative. It aligns with objectives such as developing local technologies achieving digital independence in production processes and modernizing the industrial infrastructure. Through this competition Türkiye’s global competitiveness in industry is strengthened young entrepreneurs are empowered and a qualified human resource base is supported.

The competition encourages the local development of robotics and automation systems which are critical to the digital transformation process thereby enhancing efficiency and sustainability in industry. It also enables young talents and technology startups to apply their ideas in practice develop prototypes and deliver added value to the sector.