The Take Off Entrepreneurship Summit held at the Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar Congress Center, under the main execution of the Turkey Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation), the Ministry of Industry and Technology, and the Presidency Investment Office, has concluded.
Selçuk Bayraktar stated today that Baykar is continuing its activities with a much larger team.
"We are foreseeing the future and preparing for the race of that future from today."
Drawing attention to the fact that 18 years ago, the rate of foreign dependency in the defense industry was 85%, Bayraktar continued:
"The Undersecretariat for Defense Industries had initiated a national program for the first time to ensure nationalization with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Akıncı, a Strike Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, which only three countries in the world have been able to develop, made its first flight in 2019. It entered the inventory of the armed forces in 2021 and is currently exported to 8 countries, being extensively used. It has flown tens of thousands of hours and exports are ongoing. The core from 18 years ago has grown. Today, UAVs are renowned worldwide. Hopefully, with the values, beliefs, and spirit within this core, you will accomplish much greater works. Our Fergani space initiative continues. It's been about 1.5 years. Low Earth orbit satellites. Of course, we're not going where the world is currently going. The world is deploying Starlink at 500-600 kilometers. They are launching thousands of satellites. We're going a bit further. Our principle is not to go where everyone else is going, but to be somewhat different. You can see this in the designs of our UAVs.
It has always been about foreseeing the future a bit ahead and preparing for the race of that future from today. Fergani is progressing on that path. We are working on low orbit constellation satellites and, at the same time, orbit transfer vehicles. You know, launch systems take you up to space and leave you in an orbit, a low orbit. After that, either you maneuver with your own propulsion system or you use a new concept called orbit transfer vehicles. In a way, after Kızılelma, the most advanced platform in the atmosphere...
Kızılelma is a historical ideal of our civilization. It's a goal that becomes more distant as you get closer. With its first flight, Kızılelma went a bit further, and we started our space activities 1.5 years ago. Hopefully, by 2025, we will have sent our first satellite into space. As a private company, we will have designed this satellite and worked on global navigation systems and specialized communication applications. Again, in this field, we are working on orbit transfer vehicles in space technologies. We have established the Canan Bayraktar Public Health Foundation to conduct research in the areas of cancer and psychiatry. A broad scientific team is conducting studies in the field of psychiatry. It's a foundation established with our own resources and entirely for the benefit of humanity, aimed at conducting studies in the fields of cancer and psychiatry."
Bayraktar also mentioned that Baykar currently consists of a family of 4,500 people, exporting to 33 countries, and "we walk along with around 2,000 engineers and nearly 2,500 technician companions."
Bayraktar added, "My late father has been with us since the beginning of this journey. My mother also works with us. My mother is an Istanbul University graduate in economics. I can say that the software side in me comes a bit from my mother. My father was also a very good engineer. I witnessed his entire effort devoted to our national technology leap and national UAVs for Turkey to become completely independent and strong."
"Turkey has raised founding fathers in science and technology"
Selçuk Bayraktar said that Turkey has raised founding fathers in science and technology and continued:
"If we look at our recent centuries, unfortunately, we haven't shown a remarkable existence in either technology or science, but this must undoubtedly change. There is a great need in the world for the voice of our civilization's march, the values of justice, mercy, and goodness. In order for this voice to be louder, we have decided to create a societal mobilization. For this purpose, we established our Turkey Technology Foundation. Within TEKNOFEST, the center was at the heart of technology competitions. Young competitors who will benefit from those technology competitions will later establish their own initiatives and develop beneficial works for humanity and our country.
Because in the existing order, even if you have the world's biggest assets, when it comes to raising objections to the merciless killings of babies and children in Gaza, your voice can be muted. They can demolish hospitals, churches, mosques, places of worship, and produce various reasons with unprecedented hypocrisy. They can even go further and demand you to perform a meticulously choreographed scene. Regardless of who you are, they can impose it on you. Throughout history, achieving freedom of thought, expression, rights, and law has always come at a great cost.
Our DENEYAP project, carried out with the Ministry of Industry and Technology, has spread throughout our country. Now, thousands, tens of thousands of students are growing in all 81 provinces. Last year alone, 1 million students applied to competitions. This is now by far a record. In the first year, it was 20 thousand. Even 20 thousand applications were a significant number in terms of competition entries. It became 20 thousand, 50 thousand, 200 thousand, 600 thousand, and 1 million. In this regard, it promises us a great undercurrent for Turkey's fully independent and prosperous future. Hopefully, we will hold the 10th TEKNOFEST in Anatolia."
