Azerbaijan, Turkey to launch joint innovation center

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijan and Turkey will launch a joint innovation and technology research center, Azerbaijan’s State Agency for Public Services and Social Innovations (ASAN Service) reported on September 22.

A memorandum about the establishment of the Bilim Baku center was signed by State Agency Chairman Ulvi Mehdiyev and Baykar Makina CEO Haluk Bayraktar, the report added.

The center will operate in the ASAN Hayat complex, which will be inaugurated soon. The Bilim Baku center will provide a range of training programs in technology, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics and programming, cyber security, energy technology, mathematics, natural sciences, astronomy, space and aviation and other areas.

Under the signed memorandum, the joint research center will produce and improve innovative technological products and equipment, develop new solutions based on orders, as well as conduct research in the field of innovation, commercialize and apply their results in industry and other fields.

It should be noted that 11 Azerbaijani startups are presented at the aerospace and technology festival Teknofest, which opened at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul on September 21.

Among the presented startups are the "Victory Road" space station model, the Idrak Technology Transfer projects, Iqlim, Safee Bike, Viastellar, HealWith, SmogFree, Battle of Bots, Smart Parking loT and GSM Smart Electric-AMR ST 13.

Azerbaijani startups cover such directions as the space industry, military industry, education, medicine, agriculture, transport, video games and new technologies in general.

The Teknofest event has been held annually since 2018, with the joint organization of the Turkish Technology Team Foundation, which is managed by the Turkish Industry and Technology Ministry and the technical director of Baykar Makina, in partnership with more than 60 Turkish state institutions, universities and private companies.

The goal is to popularize fields such as aviation, space industry and digital economy among young people in Turkey, to encourage entrepreneurship in these fields, to identify the knowledge and skills of young engineers through competitions organized within the festival, and to present national technologies to the general public.