As HAYTEK OUAM (Joint Application and Research Center for Digital Technologies in the Livestock Sector), we participated in HAYTEKFEST – Livestock, Agriculture, and Food Technologies R&D and Innovation Festival held between October 16-18, 2025.
The festival, filled with scientific sessions, innovative project presentations, and sector meetings over three days, received intense interest from all over Turkey.
During the festival, R&D projects, prototype systems, and domestic technology solutions conducted by the center were showcased at the HAYTEK OUAM stand. Visitors interacted one-on-one with the center team to gain information about digital transformation in agriculture, productivity enhancement, and sensor-data-based monitoring systems in livestock.
Center Director Prof. Dr. İsmail KIRBAŞ contributed to the evaluation process as a jury member in the project competition within the festival. Deputy Director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet ÇİFCİ and Lecturer Yusuf EFTELİ also took part in the stand with students involved in the center's projects.
Center Director Prof. Dr. İsmail Kırbaş stated that HAYTEKFEST is of great importance in bringing together the future of agriculture and livestock with technology, saying,
“Our goal is to connect local and low-cost technologies with small and medium-sized producers. HAYTEKFEST has become a reflection of this vision in the field,” he expressed.
This year, 91 project applications were received within the scope of HAYTEKFEST; 47 of these made it to the finals. The competition, which included universities, municipalities, research centers, and private sector representatives, allowed participants to share their innovative solutions. Various awards and supports were provided to the projects that ranked at the end of the festival.
The winning projects were announced
At the award ceremony held at the end of the festival, the projects that ranked were announced.
The first prize of 150,000 TL was awarded to Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kale, Adil Çicel, and İbrahim Oğuz Gayaker's team for the project ‘Topical Cream Used in the Treatment of Lesions Developed as a Result of Bovine Herpesviruses in Cattle’s Mammary Glands (Monherpes).’
The second prize of 100,000 TL was awarded to Theta Clean Energy Technologies Ltd. for the project ‘Sunflower: Industrial Scale Autonomous Food Drying System with Concentrated Solar Energy.’
The third prize of 75,000 TL was presented to Muhammet Uyar and Burak Özturan's team for the project ‘Smart Water Cycle and Filtration Architecture for Sustainable Aquaponic Systems.’
Jury Special Awards
This year, six projects also qualified for the Jury Special Award:
‘Organic Mulch Production from Pistachio Shells’ – Muhammet Sabur, Aslı Köroğlu
‘The Effect of Different Electric Doses and Durations on the Germination and Growth of Petroselinum crispum Seeds’ – Selda Topal, Melih Gököz, Aybike Demir, Ayşe Melek Okyar
‘Artificial Intelligence-Based Plant Disease Detection and Treatment Suggestions’ – Mevlüde Akdeniz, Sıla Irmak, Yavuz Selman Babacan, Yunus Emre Saymar
‘Production and Analysis of Edible and Biodegradable Food Coating Films from Household Waste’ – Makbule Coşkun, Rabia Akkaya
‘Usability of Biocomposite Vials Produced from Waste and Its Effect on Plant Growth’ – Eylül Topal
‘Autonomous Irrigation and Plant Health System’ – Dila Karakaş
Additionally, the projects that made it to the top 10 received free office support at the MAKÜ-BAKA Technopark Incubation Center.
The awards were presented to the finalists by Rector Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Dalgar and the university administration.