Mustafa Gültepe, president of the Turkish Exporters Assembly, said ahead of Türkiye Innovation Week 2026 that Türkiye should not merely be among the users of technological transformation but should also become a producer of it. Gültepe said their goal was for Türkiye to become a country that develops and exports technology.
Türkiye Innovation Week will be held on October 15-17
Türkiye Innovation Week 2026 will be held at the Haliç Congress Center in Istanbul on October 15-17. The event, organized for the 13th time with the support of the Ministry of Trade and under the auspices of TİM, will focus on the theme “Humanity 6.0: The New Age of Humanity.”
Speaking at the event’s launch, Gültepe said transformations ranging from steam power to electricity and from automation to digitalization had reshaped production, trade and daily life. He noted that change had entered an even faster phase with artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology and data-processing systems.
Gültepe said the compass of the new era should point toward people rather than East or West, adding that Türkiye wanted to have a say in the new transformation process through its historical heritage. He said Türkiye had risen 23 places in the Global Innovation Index since 2013 and stated that they would increase efforts to think, design and expand the boundaries of what is possible in order to move higher in the rankings.
Link between innovation and exports emphasized
Gültepe said TİM prepares an Innovation and Export Report every year. He said these reports show that companies exporting branded products have significantly higher research and development expenditures and patent numbers.
Referring to the impact analysis of the İnoSuit program, Gültepe said the export value per kilogram of all companies that completed the program was above Türkiye’s average. He said this approach was important to the goal of placing Türkiye among the world’s top 10 exporting countries.
On the second day of the event, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will present awards to the winners of the İnovaLIG competition. A total of 2,641 companies from 70 provinces applied to the competition.
People and artificial intelligence will be at the center of the event
Kutlu Karavelioğlu, vice president of TİM, said technological developments were changing not only the tools people use and the ways they work and rest, but also institutions, social life and people themselves. Karavelioğlu said they wanted to focus on people before technology this year.
Karavelioğlu said humanity’s next threshold should be crossed in harmony and cooperation with artificial intelligence. Saying that technology should not be pitted against people, Karavelioğlu defined innovation as a people-centered approach above all, bringing together research and development, production, exports, entrepreneurship, technology and young people.
Karavelioğlu said the event could also be called “Harmony 6.0” if it focused on harmony between people and artificial intelligence. He said that, alongside rapid changes in computer technologies, transformations and interactions among social groups should also be addressed. For this reason, he noted that experts in behavioral sciences as well as engineers, the views of young people as well as companies, and art as well as science were needed.
More than 120 speakers will take part across nine program themes
Türkiye Innovation Week will offer a range of content, from speeches by business representatives and young people to discussions on new technologies, art events and hands-on experiences. More than 120 speakers will take part across nine separate program themes and stages.
The event’s engagement on digital platforms was announced last week as 2.7 million. The program aims to bring students together with entrepreneurs, scientists with industrialists and investors with new ideas.
Karavelioğlu said the platform established in Türkiye aimed to strengthen the ecosystem by increasing the visibility of year-round work in research and development, entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability. He said Türkiye Innovation Week was not merely a three-day event.
Alongside Trendyol, the event’s strategic partners include İhracatı Geliştirme AŞ, Türk Ticaret Bankası, Türkiye Sigorta, Ziraat Bankası, VakıfBank, Halkbank and Doğuş Teknoloji.
