There was great enthusiasm and excitement at TEKNOFEST, where TEKNOFEST Chairman of the Board, T3 Foundation Chairman of the Board of Trustees Selçuk Bayraktar, President of Defense Industry İsmail Demir and Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank delivered the opening speeches.

Selçuk Bayraktar, in the opening speech of the festival, which has been held for 6 years for a Türkiye that develops technology with the vision of the National Technology Initiative: “TEKNOFEST has become the name of a silent revolution that started in the minds from yesterday to today. The waves of this silent revolution are getting wider every year. When we set out in 2018, 20.000 young brothers and sisters applied to the technology competitions we organized at TEKNOFEST. In this short period of time, the number of our young brothers, sisters who applied to the technology competitions of TEKNOFEST 2023 has exceeded 1 million.

More than 1 million young people, who say they will develop technology, formed teams and developed projects to participate in TEKNOFEST competitions. Asım's generation 100 years ago has been resurrected today as the TEKNOFEST generation. How beautifully said, one of the 7 beautiful men; "Now you carry the lead weight of the gospel, the steel shell of the lie that will crack. The sun-faced child of love and faith will grow in your garden."

TEKNOFEST, which is in its 6th year today, started like a spark. It continues to grow like an avalanche. Last year, we crossed our borders and organized TEKNOFEST in our brother country Azerbaijan. I hope this dream will grow and develop in friendly and brotherly countries. I hope we will crown the 100th anniversary of our republic in İzmir, which we postponed due to the earthquake, and in our capital Ankara, with TEKNOFEST. We are sure that; the march of our civilization in science and technology will continue with the TEKNOFEST generation here. As in our past, TEKNOFEST must live on from now on, so that our civilization does not lose its ties with technology and takes its rightful place on the world stage. In 2053, in 2071, we will organize much bigger TEKNOFESTs, hopefully together with millions of our brothers and sisters like you.

I want to tell through our story. With a small team, we set out with Bayraktar Mini, the first aircraft with a national guidance system in our country. With the experience we gained, we developed Bayraktar TB2, which changed the history of world warfare. With the experience we gained, we delivered the 6-ton Bayraktar Akıncı, the best in the world in its field, to our army. With the knowledge and experience we gained throughout this process, we flew our national unmanned warplane Bayraktar KIZILELMA. The platforms we have developed have been a source of pride for us, as the sons of these lands, to fulfill our responsibility towards history and our nation but if you ask “what is your greatest work”, I would say TEKNOFEST. TEKNOFEST is a climate where young people grow up, which will produce many of the works I have mentioned…

TEKNOFEST is an address where we feel the self-confidence we miss… TEKNOFEST is a platform where not only the words but also the projects of those who say “we do the best” rise… Exactly for these reasons, TEKNOFEST's continuation and growing every year is not a choice, it is a necessity.

President of Defense Industries İsmail Demir said that “TEKNOFEST has turned into a festival that cannot be held in a single city and in a single country. Demir stated that “TEKNOFEST is a sign of abundance and it set out with the basmala of people who have good intentions and want to do something for the country. Türkiye is in a national technology initiative. Many of our young people and many organizations are working with great effort in various fields of technology, not just aviation, space and defense.”

Emphasizing that TEKNOFEST is the festival of a country and people with a very high future, Demir said, "We see activities in all fields that benefit agriculture, underground, underwater, surface, transportation, communication, energy and humanity. The fire of the National Technology Initiative has been lit and this fire will grow like an avalanche. Whatever is put forward today, you young people will be able to do much better. Now the century of Türkiye will reach much higher heights in your hands”.

In Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank’s opening speech, he said: “I wish TEKNOFEST, which is held for the sixth time this year, to be beneficial to our country, our nation and especially to our youth, who are the guarantee of our future. On behalf of myself and my nation, I would like to thank T3 Foundation, all our stakeholder institutions and organizations for making us feel this pride again in the 100th anniversary of our Republic. The fire lit by our young people in love with their country in 2018 reached Azerbaijan in a short time. Hopefully, we will carry this fire even further in the coming years.

All our citizens, from 7 to 77, followed with great pride the TEKNOFEST we held in Samsun and Baku last year. We take care to organize TEKNOFEST competitions all over our country. This year, we held these competitions in Kocaeli, Bursa, Ankara, İstanbul and Aksaray. As always, we enjoyed experiencing the excitement of our competitions with you, our young people. We once again shared your excitement by watching your projects on site. This year, of course, there was another excitement.

Festival continued with technology, science, aviation-flight shows, exhibitions, summits, workshops, technology competitions, stage shows and events on the second day. Our national pride, Bayraktar Akıncı and Bayraktar KIZILELMA, made a formation flight over Istanbul for the first time and greeted the visitors of TEKNOFEST. Hürkuş, Atak Helicopter, Solo Türk, Turkish Stars, GYROCOPTER, Aksungur, Gökbey, AB412 and S70 Steel Wings carried the excitement to the skies with their special flight shows. S70 Steel Wings gave an unforgettable experience to the students in the flight event it held with the students. While The Stage is Yours event organized within the scope of the festival, the participants have fun moments; in the educational workshops, the students lived an adventure full of science, technology and space.

In TEKNOFEST Startup Program, organized by the T3 Startup Center, “Startup Demonstration Day” was held in order for the team or team members who made it to the finals in TEKNOFEST competitions to establish their own startups or expand their startups. While entrepreneurs making presentations, Selçuk Bayraktar gave a speech on this special day and gave advice to the young people. The program ended with a souvenir photo shoot.