This article was automatically translated from the original Turkish version.
Established in 2016, the Türkiye Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation) is working to position Türkiye as a more independent player in technology and to build a production-oriented future. It aims to strengthen Türkiye’s technological production capacity across a broad spectrum ranging from education to entrepreneurship and from research and development to practical application.
Why is all of this necessary?
When we look at our civilizational history, we see a strong tradition of production extending from Ibn Sina to Al-Khwarizmi and from Hezarfen to countless others. These figures were not only pioneers in their own fields but also visionaries who could integrate multiple disciplines and transform curiosity into production. This approach—uniting knowledge with practice—was a natural reflex of this geography.
Over time, however, we lost this reflex. Memorization replaced inquiry, and consumption replaced production. Young people—and indeed all of us—were subtly sent the same message: “They have already done it; we cannot.” But this was never a matter of ability. It was a matter of lost confidence.
The cost of this loss of confidence was tangible. Periods in our history when national technology production initiatives were suppressed under various pressures taught us not only about lost time but also about the true meaning of external dependency. These painful experiences remain a warning to this day.
The transformation we are currently undergoing finds its meaning precisely at this point. Breaking free from the dependency created by a technology import-based model is not merely an economic goal—it is also a mental transformation. For this reason, the National Technology Initiative is not only a development strategy but also a project of rebuilding confidence.
The roots of this initiative can be traced back to a centuries-old ideal: the tangible manifestation of a society’s shared belief in the power and future of this nation. Thus, national technology production is becoming an issue embraced not only by specific institutions but by a much broader segment of society.
The T3 Foundation, founded in 2016 by Selçuk Bayraktar alongside young engineers and professionals, emerged as one of the key building blocks of this transformation.
Özdemir Bayraktar’s belief in national technology and his opposition to external dependency in the defense industry continue to guide the foundation’s direction. The T3 Foundation is building an ecosystem that places production at its core, spanning human capital from education and entrepreneurship to research and development.
One of the strongest aspects of this ecosystem is its ability to carry a child’s journey, beginning with curiosity, all the way to production. Science Türkiye Centers provide environments where children encounter science at an early age and learn through hands-on experimentation. Today, these centers operate in five countries including Türkiye, enabling children to meet not only knowledge but also the spirit of discovery.
This journey deepens further through Discovery Campuses. Designed with a “Children’s University” approach, this model integrates theory and practice to offer children a holistic learning experience. Next come Deneyap Technology Workshops. In these workshops, spread across all 81 provinces of Türkiye, young people receive education in areas ranging from robotics to artificial intelligence while simultaneously gaining the confidence to produce. A key component of this process is the Deneyap Card, which enables young people to develop their own hardware.
T3 Academy brings this learning process into the digital realm. By offering free and publicly accessible content, it facilitates access to knowledge. Meanwhile, the Özdemir Bayraktar National Technology Scholarship Program supports young people in focusing on production without financial burdens.
It is possible to begin this journey at any stage. The T3 Foundation’s fundamental approach in this domain is to ensure that everyone can participate. Equal opportunity is placed at the center: workshops operate in all 81 provinces of Türkiye, and applications for competitions are accepted from every corner of the country. To ensure that financial limitations do not act as barriers, participants are provided with material, transportation, and accommodation support.
One of the most visible outcomes of this ecosystem is TEKNOFEST. Since its inception in 2018, the festival has become one of the world’s largest events in aviation, space, and technology. Its true value lies not in its numbers but in the transformation it has created. Participants who reach certain stages in technology competitions receive material, transportation, and accommodation support to ensure they are not held back by financial constraints. Children from disadvantaged regions who would otherwise lack the opportunity to attend are welcomed to the festival along with their families.
Young people once told “we cannot” now stand on the world’s largest technology stage with their own projects. This is not merely a story of success—it is the reconstruction of confidence.
The journey of production is not limited to developing projects. Equally important is the transformation of an idea into a product and a product into an enterprise. The T3 Entrepreneurship Center steps in at this stage to help ventures overcome technical and financial barriers. The Take Off Entrepreneurship Summit annually connects startups from around the world with investors, elevating this process to a global scale.
Today, producing alone is not enough; the environment in which knowledge circulates must also be trustworthy. KÜRE Digital Encyclopedia presents verified, culturally contextualized information through an open-source framework, while NSosyal aims to deliver a more transparent and trustworthy social media experience. T3 AI operates with the vision of developing local and open-source solutions in the field of artificial intelligence.
All of these efforts share a common goal: to build a future in which every child has equal opportunities, every young person is part of production, and society can develop its own technology. What emerges is more than the sum of individual projects. A pathway is being established where a process that begins with a child’s curiosity continues uninterrupted all the way to production.
Here, knowledge is not merely something learned—it finds concrete expression. It becomes a project, a product, sometimes even an enterprise.
The real change occurs in perspective: the question “Can we do it?” is now replaced by “How can we do it?”
The Forgotten Confidence
A Paradigm Shift
A Journey from Curiosity to Production
A Stage of Confidence: TEKNOFEST
From Idea to Product
Building Trust in the Digital World
What Are We Building?
