Turkey's First Livestock Technologies Festival Started at MAKÜ
Yapılış Tarihi | 09 March 2023, Thursday
For the first time in Turkey, the Livestock Technologies R&D and Innovation Festival (HAYTEKFEST), which will guide the livestock sector, hosted by Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University (MAKÜ), has started.
With HAYTEKFEST, it is aimed to bring out local and national technology-based projects in the livestock sector, whose strategic importance is increasing day by day within the scope of Turkey's National Technology Initiative, and to implement these projects quickly and effectively.
Within the scope of HAYTEKFEST, 101 projects from all over Turkey participated. Among the 101 projects, 37 projects made it to the finals through a three-stage evaluation. These finalist projects will be presented for three days and evaluated by expert jury members in their field, and the top three projects will be awarded. The festival, where the first place will receive 100 thousand, the second place 75 thousand, and the third place 50 thousand TL, saw intense participation.
The opening program of HAYTEKFEST, held at Lavanta Tepesi Hotel, was attended by Deputy Governor Ahmet Mailoğlu, Rector Prof. Dr. Adem Korkmaz, Hacettepe University Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Cahit Güran, SDÜ Rector Prof. Dr. İlker Çarıkçı, Kırklareli University Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Nurettin Aka, Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Assoc. Dr. Sait Muharrem Say, BAKA Secretary General Volkan Güler, Vice-Rectors Prof. Dr. Durmuş Acar, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaca, Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Dalgar, Rector's Advisor Prof. Dr. Ömer Tekşen, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, representatives of Non-Governmental Organizations, representatives of Political Parties, Public Institution Managers, Sector Representatives, academicians, and students.
TÜBİTAK President Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal: “Livestock Technologies Are Very Important for Our Future”
The program, which started with a moment of silence and the singing of the National Anthem, was joined live by TÜBİTAK President Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal. In his opening speech, Mandal emphasized the following: “The gathering of academicians, our young human resources, livestock technology sector representatives, public and NGOs within the scope of HAYTEKFEST with a focus on sustainable livestock is very valuable. Regional development-oriented projects are being carried out by Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University in the field of livestock, increasing scientific and technological approaches for sustainable livestock. Among the 37 projects that will compete in the finals within the scope of HAYTEKFEST, there are project examples covering animal health technologies, poultry technologies, nanotechnology, and sensor technologies. Collaboration based on joint development in the focus of livestock technologies is of key importance for our common future. A great effort is involved in this work carried out today. I would like to thank everyone who supported, contributed, and participated.”
The program continued with the screening of the MAKÜ 2023 Promotional Film prepared by the Corporate Communication Center (KİMER).
Chairman of the Organizing Committee Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Dalgar: “We Focused on Nationalizing Livestock Technologies”
In the program, which continued with opening speeches, HAYTEKFEST Organizing Committee Chairman Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Dalgar gave a speech. Starting his speech by expressing condolences regarding the earthquakes referred to as the disaster of the century, Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Dalgar provided information about the HAYTEKFEST process. Dalgar said, “While working in the field of livestock technologies, we saw that when we talk about livestock technology in Turkey, it is a sector dependent on foreign sources. Then we said, let's focus on nationalizing livestock technologies, and as a result, the idea of HAYTEKFEST emerged. We started our work by taking the strength of the Faculty of Engineering of our Hacettepe University and Kırklareli University with us. Can we make Burdur the center of livestock technologies? Can we make our Technopark a thematic Technopark? With such thoughts and the support of our Development Agency, we embarked on this journey, and at the point we have reached, 101 projects at the startup level, new entrepreneur level, researcher level, student level, and firm level that have reached a certain size came to us from all over Turkey. These 101 projects will find their owners through a three-stage evaluation. A three-stage scoring was done for the awards, and the evaluation process was objective. With the support of our sponsors, we will provide 100 thousand TL to the first project, 75 thousand TL to the second, and 50 thousand TL to the third. Within the scope of HAYTEKFEST, we have seminars with the participation of leading representatives of the sector. I thank everyone who contributed.”
BAKA Secretary General Volkan Güler: “Our Region Will Soon Be One of the Most Mentioned Regions in Terms of Entrepreneurship”
Western Mediterranean Development Agency Secretary General Volkan Güler said, “As the Western Mediterranean Development Agency, we have identified the development of the eco-tourism sector, the medicinal and aromatic plants sector, and entrepreneurship as our main focus. In the near future, our region will be one of the most mentioned regions in terms of entrepreneurship. To finance the project, we announced a program last year to strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem. I would like to express my gratitude once again to our esteemed rector, who led the realization of such a project, and to all the members of the organizing committee. Hopefully, we have realized a project that will bring good results together.”
Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Çukurova University Faculty Member Assoc. Dr. Sait Muharrem Say, in his speech, emphasized the following: “First of all, I am very happy to be here and to have the chance to address you in this journey that started with a referee offer process. Following the light of science, with the impact and energy of such organizations, there is no reason not to look very positively to the future with our well-educated young population, which Europe looks at with envy. I thank everyone who made an effort here, and I express my gratitude once again for giving me the chance to be here.”
Kırklareli University Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Nurettin Akar also said, “Within the scope of the Regional Development-Oriented Mission Differentiation program, the Joint Application and Research Center for Digital Technologies in the Livestock Sector was established under the coordination of Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, which specializes in the field of livestock, in partnership with Kırklareli University and Hacettepe University, and was approved by the Higher Education Council. With the established joint center, it is aimed to develop livestock throughout the country, especially in Burdur province, by combining the projects to be carried out in the field of livestock with the developing technologies of our age.”
Hacettepe University Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Cahit Güran, in his speech, emphasized the following: “We are very happy to be a partner in the Joint Application and Research Center for Digital Technologies in the Livestock Sector together with Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University. I find it very meaningful to hold such a beautiful organization and thank everyone who contributed.”
Rector Prof. Dr. Adem Korkmaz “MAKÜ's Work in the Field of Livestock Has Entered the Investment Program of Our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry”
Rector Prof. Dr. Adem Korkmaz, in his speech, said, “This great disaster we have experienced as a nation is a great shock. We have not yet overcome the shock as a society because the trauma is very big, so we are still in this process. When we saw the magnitude of the disaster, we consulted with our friends and worried whether it could be confused with classical summer festivals because it is called a festival, but since it is HAYTEKFEST, the Livestock Technologies R&D and Innovation Festival carried out by the university, we decided to continue the process, thinking that we have no time to wait in scientific fields such as technology and R&D.
As Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, we have also made efforts to build innovative works and models in many fields from time to time with the opportunities and potentials given to us by being a new and young university. New university models are being discussed in the world, such as entrepreneurial university models, specialization university models, and regional orientation university models. Being a young university provided us with opportunities to carry out these studies in this field, and we tried to obtain concrete outputs and results by filling in the framework of these models within the existing regulations. The main issue today is the production of knowledge. When we look at the development rankings of countries in the world, knowledge production comes first, but it is not enough to produce knowledge alone. You need to turn it into technology. The market comes into play. Our Ministry of Industry and Technology, our Development Agency, and many public institutions in the country have many studies to encourage entrepreneurship. We have also implemented some studies with a regional approach. We concluded some studies within the patent and classical R&D modeling and continue to do so. We continue to focus on this issue. We carried out some studies at the point of commercialization by establishing joint venture groups with companies specialized in the sector. In addition, we had approaches to transform the knowledge we produced into services in the market. One of them is the project we presented to our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, which was included in the investment program of our Ministry this year, to support dairy farms in the livestock sector within the scope of quality, and Burdur was selected as the pilot province. This is a topic we have been working on for about 3 years. Our Certification Center was accredited by the Turkish Accreditation Agency in the process of accreditation and certification of livestock enterprises. In other words, it became a program owner institution. After our Technology Transfer Office Joint Stock Company passed the same accreditation, it came to a joint working point with our Ministry. The project we presented to our Ministry was included in the investment program of our Ministry this year. We are doing many projects, many institutions are doing incredible R&D service-oriented studies. We had a meeting with our Provincial Directorate of Agriculture last week. We are making a call soon. Our Provincial Directorate will make the call, and we will carry out the field operations as a university. We classify our enterprises in 4 categories, A-B-C-D, and candidate, based on approximately 150 parameters. It is necessary to increase the quality of these enterprises in every aspect, such as human resources, technical equipment, organization, and software. Because economic statistics show that Turkey's cattle and sheep population is more than enough to meet the need for both meat and milk. From time to time, we experience some problems such as meat-milk prices and production styles. Every university should produce concrete models that will transform knowledge into service in active cooperation with the relevant public institutions and the sector in the fields where it is strong. Are these being done within the existing structure? They are, but we need to move much faster. The contributions of universities to the design of policies to be produced by public institutions, policy designers, and implementers are very important, and our ministries also have their own R&D units. But universities are much stronger here. On this occasion, I think that our Livestock Technologies R&D and Innovation Festival will serve its purpose as a reflection of this approach.”
After Rector Korkmaz's speech, Burdur Deputy Governor Ahmet Mailoğlu also gave a speech, stating that he personally went and saw the difficulties experienced in the earthquakes, emphasizing that we are a helpful country as a nation, but coordination is very important while doing this. Conveying the greetings of Burdur Governor Ali Arslantaş, who is on duty in the Defne district of Hatay, Mailoğlu wished the festival to bring good to our province, region, and our entire country.
The Opening of the Livestock Technologies Incubation Center Was Held
After the opening program, the stands of the companies that opened stands within the scope of the festival were visited. Then, the opening of the Livestock Technologies Incubation Center, established within the body of MAKÜ Technopark with the support of the Western Mediterranean Development Agency, was held.
The program continued with project presentations.
