DEMONSTRATION OF FRATERNAL UNITY

Air, space and technology festival Teknofest 2022 held in Baku on May 26-29 was another demonstration of friendship, fraternity and strategic alliance between Azerbaijan and Turkey. The event was also significant in terms of establishing new geopolitical realities and developing post-conflict peace in the region, as well as in the context of diversification of the non-oil economy, its integration into the global economic system, which is the key objective of reforms implemented in Azerbaijan.

One nation, two states, one festival

Teknofest is an annual event held since 2018 at the initiative of the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3), the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Technology, and Baykar Makina in partnership with more than 60 public institutions, universities and private Turkish companies. It was the first time Teknofest was organised outside Turkey, in Azerbaijan, which is of great political significance given the symbolic coincidence of the festival's key day - 28 May - with Azerbaijan's Independence Day.

Speaking at the festival attended by a prominent Turkish delegation led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Ilham Aliyev reminded that "104 years ago the Azerbaijani people established the first democratic republic in the Muslim world. Unfortunately, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic did not last long. Two years later it fell and Azerbaijan lost its independence. Independence of Azerbaijan was restored only in the early 1990s. For 30 years, the Azerbaijani people have been enjoying independence, building their lives themselves and confidently following the path of independence.”

it is important that the process of Azerbaijan's independent development, as well as the strengthening of its statehood and position in the international arena has been accompanied with allied relations with the fraternal Republic of Turkey. Thus, President Aliyev described the Turkish-Azerbaijani brotherhood as "the main guide for our nations", with Teknofest being yet "another demonstration of our unity".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasised in his address at the festival that although diplomatic relations between the two brotherly countries were restored only 30 years ago, the ties linking the peoples of our states go back centuries. "We fought together in Canakkala in 1915, in Ganja, Baku and other regions of Azerbaijan in 1918. Our shared history encourages us to further strengthen our friendship, love, and unity," Mr. Erdogan said.

The liberation of Garabagh during the 44-day war in 2020 has a special place in the context of our countries’ common historical path and national interests. To underline this aspect, the Turkish president said: "The victory in Garabagh is the latest example of our people's heroic accomplishments. Thanks to the resolute stance of my brother, the victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief Mr. Ilham Aliyev, Garabagh was liberated from occupation after thirty years. Brave army of Azerbaijan achieved a great victory in Garabagh, a victory rarely seen in history. It is a very sensitive moment. The 44-day Patriotic War demonstrated the world what can be achieved by combining intelligence, technology and courage. The whole world witnessed the success of our defence industry, which we shared with Azerbaijan".

President Ilham Aliyev expressed the gratitude of his people to the brotherly people of Turkey: "You have always been by our side. In the first hours of the war my dear brother, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: ‘Azerbaijan is not alone, Turkey is with you!’ This gave us additional strength, spirit, and confidence. Azerbaijani people will never forget this.”

Teknofest-2022 has confirmed the improvement of allied relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey, which were made official thanks to the Shusha Declaration signed by Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan on June 15, 2021. The development of bilateral military and technical cooperation, which is moving towards the development of a joint defence industry, is yet another proof of the Azerbaijani-Turkish strategic alliance also confirmed by Teknofest-2022. Part of this process includes the continuous expansion of army building in Azerbaijan, which, as President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly emphasised, is aimed at creating a "small model of the Turkish army".

The joint implementation of "national technological offensive" suggested by President Erdogan at the Teknofest-2022 in Baku complies with the whole set of measures followed by the two brotherly countries in terms of strengthening their strategic alliance. Selcuk Bayraktar, Technical Director of Baykar Makina, described Teknofest as "the spirit of independence, brotherhood, science and morality. It is the mobilisation of society for the joint development of high technologies to ensure the full independence and well-being of our countries, protect our skies and seas and revive our lands.”

Thus, the priority and value of Teknofest should now be considered not only in the context of Turkey's own power aspirations, but also in terms of strengthening the strategic alliance between Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as the development of a technological breakthrough that meets the challenges of the 21st century. In the future, these missions should involve political and economic cooperation across the Turkic world and the activities of the Organisation of Turkic States, which was also the subject of important statements made at the Baku Teknofest forum.

Nuances of technological breakthrough

The purpose of Teknofest is to popularise the capabilities of the aerospace industry and digital economy, support entrepreneurship in this field, identify knowledge and skills of young engineers through competitions, and demonstrate technological capabilities to the general public. Azerbaijani start-ups took part in the forum last year for the first time. At the same time, it was decided to hold the next, fifth festival in Baku. The event in Baku was organised by the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan with the active support of T3, specialists from the Turkish Ministry of Industrial Technology, Teknofest production office, etc.

Held at the Baku Crystal Hall Sports and Concert Complex and the Baku Seaside Boulevard, Teknofest Azerbaijan will be remembered as one of the most iconic events of recent years, combining a spectacular show programme and start-up contests with demonstrations of the latest IT technologies, high-tech gadgets and sophisticated digital solutions. During the entire period of the festival, pilots of the Azerbaijani Air Force, Türk Yıldızları air squadron of the Turkish Air Force and Solotürk aerobatic team have performed demonstration flights and acrobatic stunts in the skies over Baku.

On the shores of the Caspian Sea, organisers displayed many aircraft, helicopters, armoured vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including Bayraktar Akıncı and Bayraktar TB2 drones. Numerous stands at the festival showcased Turkey's and Azerbaijan's security, defence and technology agencies, including an extensive display of Turkish defence companies Aselsan, Baykar, Havelsan, Roketsan, STM, TEI, Turkish Aerospace Industries and the Turkish Space Agency.

The festival venue hosted various demonstrations, competitions and contests in various disciplines, such as Baku Skills, Socially Oriented Technologies, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Gliders, Agricultural Technologies, CanSet, Robotics, and Smart Garabagh Hackathon. The forum included the Azerbaijani Startup Summit TakeOff Baku, which brought together foreign technology companies, investors and venture capital funds. A total of 287 start-ups from Turkey, Pakistan, USA, Argentina, Estonia, Jordan, Egypt (32 countries in total) applied to join the event, with over a third of participants being Azerbaijani start-ups. Their activities cover various areas, such as education, financial technology, healthcare, transport and logistics, security, entertainment, Smart City and Media&Ads categories, etc.

Another landmark event of the festival was the holding of the European Cyber Sports Cup, a popular youth championship based on the video-game RocketLeague.

The exhibition part of the event presented products and solutions of Turkish and Azerbaijani start-ups and technology companies, prototypes and STEM projects of students, various attractions, a show program, where visitors could see flight simulators, robots, etc. The stands of Azerbaijani start-ups showed equipment and solutions for agriculture and smart villages, smart lighting, drones, smart mailboxes for logistics, 3D printers and software solutions, etc.

Azerbaijan has recently begun to develop a start-up ecosystem, hence it has little experience in commercialising hightech and software solutions. Until recently, the high-tech projects implemented in the country have been mostly applied, research projects primarily implemented through state support and international donor grants. Only recently have local start-ups started to seek support from international vendors and are taking their first steps towards concluding contracts with the leading companies in the EU, the Silicon Valley and other global IT hubs.

Nevertheless, Azerbaijan has made visible progress in the high-tech aerospace business over the past decade. For example, Azerbaijan's space operator Azerkosmos successfully commercialises the resource potential of two domestic AzerSpace communications satellites and the Azersky low-orbiting optical satellite, providing communications and remote sensing services in 31 countries worldwide. Recently, during the Space Technology Conference (STC 2022) in Tashkent, Azerkosmos signed a number of agreements on cooperation in space business with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. This partnership is implemented under the Vision of the Turkic World 2040, which ensures cooperation with Turkish space agencies to exchange skills and knowledge in space science, education and industry.

Azerbaijan has been equally successful in the high-tech drone production. Thus, with the support of Israeli hi-tech companies, over the past 12 years Azerbaijan has developed its own industrial cluster for the production of unmanned aerial vehicles for various purposes. Today this area has received support of Turkish specialists, including world-famous Baykar Makina headed by Selcuk Bayraktar, which has recently revealed its intention to localise in our country assembling of the newest striking UAVs Bayraktar Akıncı. In particular, as part of the Baku Forum Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov and Selcuk Bayraktar held a meeting to discuss the prospects of military-technical cooperation between the two countries, including in the aviation sphere.

The scope of talks held at Teknofest Azerbaijan shows that the Turkish technology cluster's support for Azerbaijani start-ups and high-tech companies will further expand in the near future.

"Digital transformation in Azerbaijan is one of the priorities on the government's agenda. Our key goals are to create smart cities and villages in the liberated territories and transform traditional cities into smart ones," Rashad Nabiyev, Minister of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan, said during a special meeting of ministers responsible for information and communication technologies in the Organisation of Turkic States. He praised the close cooperation between Turkey and other Turkic states in terms of their contribution to the joint development of the basis for Industry 4.0 and expanding digital transformation, and called for joint efforts in cyber security, recognition of electronic signatures, development of space projects, etc.

One of the most important outcomes of the ministerial forum was the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Industry and Technology of Turkey to establish a joint technopark in our country. Cooperation with Turkey in IT-technologies includes financial and technological support for local innovation companies. As a first step in this direction, Turkish venture fund Boğaziçi Ventures allocated $5 million for acceleration of Azerbaijani startup projects last year. Also, it is planned to implement a number of projects on the development of the startup ecosystem, including the establishment of joint Turkish-Azerbaijani techno park and technological workshops Deneyap with support of the Ministry of Industry & Technology of Turkey, Turkish Technopark GOSB, as well as the Innovation Agency of Azerbaijan. Experts from the two friendly states are also planning to develop innovative projects in renewable energy and energy-saving technologies, introduction of IoT components in utilities, industry, shipbuilding, development of DATA-centers and government cloud systems, etc. Some of these initiatives are already implemented with the support of Turkish and Israeli specialists in pilot projects to create smart villages in the Zangilan and Fuzuli districts of Azerbaijan, where, in particular, UAVs will be actively used for crop control and land pollination.

"Holding Teknofest in Baku is extremely important to familiarise Azerbaijani youth with new generation technologies, development of technological sphere. We are ready to fully support the development of technology in Azerbaijan, to attract the interest of young people to this sphere," Haluk Bayraktar, head of Baykar Savunma, said during the Teknofest Azerbaijan forum.

In fact, the development of high technology and the involvement of talented young people in this process is the main goal of such international technology festivals and colourful show programmes in Azerbaijan.

After Teknofest-2022 we can confidently say that all important goals have been set and the festival will become one of the main motivators of technological development in Azerbaijan.