The introduction and information meeting of the "Design Factory" project, carried out by Istanbul Kültür University with the support of Istanbul Development Agency (ISTKA), was held on Monday, September 5, 2022.

The meeting held in Önder Öztunalı Conference Hall with the participation of our Rector Prof. Dr. Hanife Öztürk Akkartal, our Advisor to the Board of Trustees Ender Rıza Ekici, our Design Factory Project Academic Coordinator Assist. Prof. Gabriela Oana Olaru, our professional companies and students, was started with the opening speech of our Rector Prof. Dr. Hanife Öztürk Akkartal.

Prof. Dr. Akkartal in her speech said: “There are only a few days left until the opening of the Design Factory. It gives me great pleasure to be hosting the project that can be described as the project that shapes the future. In a very short time we will get to see the results of the project, which has been worked on for a long time. I am quite confident that successful and innovative ideas shall emerge.”.

Our Design Factory Project Academic Coordinator Assist. Prof. Gabriela Oana Olaru talked about the process and stages of the project and said, “We want this project to make a mark as a pioneering project in the creative industries ecosystem. Our chief concerns are to evaluate and bring the most creative ideas to life and to train the most qualified employees of the sector.”.

Bulutistan and Coinoxs firm and Hamdi Özgan, among the Design Factory professionals, talked about their certainty that with the project, future generations will grow up to become well-equipped professionals ready for every situation and that young people will come up with very successful projects in the field of creative industries.

Our IEEE Club and ASIMOV Club members, who successfully represented our university in the competitions they participated in and made us proud with their achievements, were also invited to the stage to be congratulated.

Our students who expressed their opinions about the project said: “The Design Factory project is a huge opportunity. We are also happy that we will be provided with all the training and equipment we need to realize the projects we dreamed of and prepare for the sector in the best way possible. From now on, we are all in the Design Factory and we will do our best to bring forth the best projects.”.

Organized by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation and T.R. Ministry of Industry and Technology, TEKNOFEST was held for the fifth time this year as a grand organization with 130 companies participating, including 101 stakeholders and sponsors. The "Technology Competitions" designed to support the projects of thousands of young people working in these fields with the aim of increasing the interest of young people in the production and development of national technology, were organized this year in 40 main competitions and 99 different categories. More than 150 thousand teams and more than 600 thousand participants from all 81 of the provinces of Türkiye and 107 countries participated in the competitions.

The final stage of TEKNOFEST between 30 August and 4 September was held in the city of Samsun. 900 thousand people visited the festival held at Çarşamba Airport during the six days of the festival. TEKNOFEST, which was organized across the Black Sea, mainly based in Samsun this year, welcomed more than 1 million 250 thousand people in total.

The KUASAR team, which consists of students from our university participating in the TEKNOFEST competition in the category of "Accessible Living Technologies" and is under the IEEE Club, exhibited their work with the K-ROD Smart Walking Stick Project in the final stage held in Trabzon between 5-7 August 2022 and successfully passed the jury evaluation.

The KUASAR team, which came under the top 10 among the 250 teams in the category the team competed in and was specially invited to promote their project in the Samsun stage of the festival, was granted the "Special Presentation Award" award for their successful promotion.

We congratulate our team, consulted by of Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Computer Sciences Assoc. Prof.  Emel Yavuz, and made up of  İrem Nur Yıldırım (Team Captain – Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering), Şevval Nur Dönmezler (Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering), Furkan Karayel (Department of Industrial Engineering), Elif Şeker (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science), Faruk Emre Özcan (Department of Electrical-Electronics Engineering), Arda Yaşar Erdoğan (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science) and Burak Şehitoğlu (Department of Electrical-Electronics Engineering) for their success.

Istanbul Kültür University (IKU) Faculty of Architecture Dean Prof. Dr. Neslihan Dostoğlu attended the international conference titled “TOWARDS A NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS: Challenges in Design Education & Research” organized by EAAE (European Association for Architectural Education) between 31 August and 4 September 2022 in Madrid, the capital of Spain. Presenting her paper titled “CHALLENGES IN ACHIEVING GENDER EQUALITY IN ARCHITECTURE” orally at the conference, Prof. Dr. Dostoğlu also attended the EAAE Annual General Assembly.

Prof. Dr. Neslihan Dostoğlu also made it possible, with Prof. Dr. Emel Birer from IKU Department of Architecture, for the exhibition sheets about the "Muğla Forest Fires", produced by the students under the supervision of the faculty members of Istanbul Kültür University and Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University Department of Architecture which were produced in the workshop held during the "Architectural Episodes 02 Symposium" held virtually by the IKU Faculty of Architecture Department of Architecture on 24-25 March 2022, to be exhibited in the conference in Madrid.

Workshop of the “Urban Air Traffic Management” project funded by the EU and carried out by Istanbul Kültür University (IKU) Technology Transfer Office (TTO) was held at Akıngüç Auditorium and Art Center on Monday, 5 September.

İn the workshop, which was attended by Gareth Macnaughton, Director of Urban Mobility at the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, project implementation officers and project partners from the faculty, industry and city representatives, the topics of the roles of national and international partner organizations in the consortium in the project, and their experiences on the urban airspace concept were dwelled upon.

Istanbul Kültür University Alumni and Members Association (İKÜMED) Board of Directors visited Prof. Dr. Gülce Öğrüç Ildız, appointed as the Vice Rector, at her office on Monday, September 5th.

Istanbul Kültür University (IKU) Faculty of Architecture Dean Prof. Dr. Neslihan Dostoğlu gave a presentation at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday, September 5, 2022. Making significant contributions to Bursa’s inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014, UNESCO Bursa Site President Prof. Dr. Dostoglu, attended various meetings held at the European Parliament and at the Permanent Representation of Türkiye to the European Union upon the invitation of the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality as a part of the process of applying for Bursa to be the European Capital of Culture. Prof. Dr. Neslihan Dostoğlu discussed Bursa’s position on the UNESCO World Heritage List with regards to sustainable tourism and green investment.

As a part of the “Peer Mentoring” project carried out by Kültür Point, the students who will serve as volunteer mentors in the 2022-2023 Academic Year were trained by Kültür Point Deputy Head of Unit, Doğa Kurtyiğit. The particulars of the mentoring processes were dwelled upon in the training held over Microsoft Teams on Thursday, September 8, 2022 at 17.00. The training, attended by 80 volunteer peer mentors, was concluded after the questions were answered.

Lecturer Evren Yilmaz and Lecturer Kerem Yücesan from Istanbul Kültür University (IKU) Vocational School (MYO) Flight Operations Management Program,  met with Akın Sülün, İstanbul New Airport Operations Director of FUGO Ground Handling Services. In the meeting held on Tuesday, 6 September, the topics such as, the development of aviation, internship opportunities and cooperation were dwelled upon.

Lecturer Kübra Öztürk from Istanbul Kültür University (IKU) Vocational School (MYO) presented her oral presentation ttitled “A Model Proposal for the Role of Managerent Support on the Impact of Psychological Resilience on Career Satisfaction” in the “International Conference on Social Science Research” conference held between 5-9 September in Budva, Montenegro.

Prof. Dr. Emel Birer, one of our academicians from Istanbul Kültür University (IKU) Department of Architecture of the Faculty of Architecture, attended the “EAAE 2022 TOWARDS A NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS Challenges in Design Education & Research” conference organized by EAAE (European Association for Architectural Education) in Madrid-Spain on August 31-September 4, 2022.

Prof. Dr. Emel Birer made her presentation of the exhibition of the workshop titled “Thoughts on Mugla Transcripts In/On Disasters: Forest Fires” at the symposium held online at our university on March 24-25, 2022, with the theme of “ARCHITECTURAL EPISODES 02: NEW DIALOGUES IN ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION AND PRACTICE” at the conference. The exhibition was opened to the visit to the students of the faculty of architecture at ETSAM Polytechnic University of Madrid at the end of the symposium.

IKU Technology Transfer Office (TTO) Manager Assoc. Dr. Süleyman Hikmet Çağlar and Technology Transfer and University-Industry Collaboration Specialist Yasin Şahin came together with the worldwide known "Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu Design Office" at their headquarters in Rumeli Fortress on Thursday, August 8th. Evaluating possible collaborations with General Manager Buğra Güler in various fields such as national and international projects, consultancy and know-how sharing, the IKU TTO team compared notes on potential R&D and technology-oriented issues about the Design Center.

MFA Respiratory Protective Equipment company, founded by Fatih Furtun, one of the first graduates of the Department of International Relations of IKU, participated in EXPO KATOWICE International Fair of Mining Power and Metallurgy, one of the largest mining exhibitions in Europe, with its Polish business partner M.A.S. Sp. z. o.o.