TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan: Bridge to future Industry 4.0 Review by Caliber.Az

In the developed countries of the world, more and more attention is being paid to supporting innovative businesses and startups - the basic elements of global digital transformation. The most important goals are the promotion of IT technologies in the business processes of enterprises, the development of various "smart" systems for urban and municipal management, the introduction of IoT (Internet of Things) components in offices and the residential sector, as well as the widespread use in all areas of the potential of various unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and satellites. These trends are also developing in Azerbaijan, where the promotion of the startup ecosystem, innovative business, and the production of UAVs are identified as the basic elements of the future Industry 4.0. The potential in this area was demonstrated in Baku, where the TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan Aviation, Cosmonautics and technology festival started on May 26.

Over the past few years, steps have been accelerated in Azerbaijan to bring the startup ecosystem being formed in the republic to the international level, in particular, international donors have begun to support local innovative companies, primarily specialised structures of Turkiye and Israel, and in the future [companies] from EU countries, the USA, etc.

The most productive in this regard is the Azerbaijani-Turkish high-technologies cooperation, the joint fruit of which was the organisation of the TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan Aviation, Cosmonautics and Technology Festival in Baku on May 26-29, 2022. It is appropriate to recall here that the TEKNOFEST festival is a relatively new undertaking: Since 2018, this forum has been held annually in Turkiye with the aim of popularising the capabilities of the aerospace industry and the digital economy, encouraging entrepreneurship in specialised areas, identifying the knowledge and skills of young engineers through competitions, demonstrating technological capabilities to the general public. The organisers of this forum are the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3) operating under the Turkish Industry and Technology Ministry and Baykar Makina Company, in partnership with more than 60 state institutions, universities and private Turkish companies.

Hospitable Azerbaijan took over the baton for the fifth festival: a huge amount of organisational work has been done in Baku with the support of the Azerbaijani Digital Development and Transport Ministry, Turkish colleagues, TEKNOFEST production office, etc. Within the framework of TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan, technology contests in eight categories, the Smart Karabakh hackathon, the Azerbaijani startup summit Take Off and the European Esports Cup for the Rocket League video game will be held. In the exhibition part of the event, products and solutions of startups and partner structures, prototypes and STEM projects of students will be presented, an exhibition of UAVs will be held in an open area, a spectacular air show, various attractions, a show program, flight simulators, robots, etc. will also be organised.

It is expected that in total over 200,000 visitors, also from 33 countries of the world, will take part in the festival over four days. Within the framework of the forum, an international startup summit Take Off Baku is planned, which will also be attended by foreign technology companies, investors and venture funds. Some 287 startups from 32 countries applied to participate in the event, and more than a third of them are Azerbaijani startups: 50 participants reached the final, including 35 local and 15 foreign - from Turkiye, Pakistan, USA, Argentina, Estonia, Jordan, Egypt. Startups' activities cover education, financial technology, healthcare, transport and logistics, security, Entertainment, Smart City and Media&Ads categories, etc. Among other things, equipment and solutions for agriculture and "smart villages", smart lighting, drones, "smart mailboxes" for logistics, 3D printer and software solutions, etc. were demonstrated at the stand allocated to Azerbaijani startups.

"We are witnessing the key importance of high technologies for the protection of the independence and development of the country. It is noteworthy that Azerbaijan became the first foreign country where Turkiye holds TEKNOFEST, and during the festival the youth of the two fraternal countries will demonstrate their potential and capabilities to the whole world," Selcuk Bayraktar, technical director of the Turkish company Baykar Makina, said during the opening ceremony of TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan.

In turn, Digital Development and Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyev, who spoke at the opening of the forum, noted that over 50 teams and thousands of participants from 25 countries of the world are taking part in the festival in Baku. The minister noted the importance of holding such forums to encourage the creative youth, develop technical skills and knowledge, stressing that such platforms help startups to have direct contacts with potential donors, and in general attract investments in the development of high technologies in Azerbaijan.

In fact, the development of high technologies and the involvement of talented young people in these processes is the main goal and outcome of such technological festivals and show programs in Azerbaijan. In this regard, in recent years, the dynamics of development and the number of startups operating on the basis of incubation and acceleration centers at research and production structures have significantly improved in the country. Incubation and acceleration centers, programming schools and a number of other specialized structures formed at a number of universities, ANAS [Azerbaijani National Academmy of Sciences] and state agencies act as a locomotive here: the most active of them are the incubation structures Barama, New Space, AppLab, Youth Inc and Tech.az etc.

The most important vector of development for startups is the expansion of the activities of incubation centres at universities with the maximum involvement of talented young people in these processes. It is appropriate to note here that similar, competitive startup projects in the field of climate change, renewable energy sources, development of UAV systems, etc., have already been implemented at the Baku Higher School of Petroleum (BHOS), ADA University, Baku State University, National Aviation Academy (NAA), etc. In particular, the initiatives of the NAA on the development and manufacture of unmanned aerial vehicles and micro-motors using CAD/CAE/CAM technologies, as well as electric power, electronics, radio engineering, instrumentation, should be particularly noted. Since 2011, the laboratories of the House of Students' Creativity have been developing aircraft and students have created about 300 different operating aerobatic models.

Moreover, some developments of Azerbaijani startups at universities and incubation centres of ANAS in the field of unmanned vehicles have high chances for commercialiSation. In particular, these include the mini-unmanned multi-purpose aircraft Dronee, running the iOS operating system. There is interest in this project in France, Australia, the USA, Canada, China and even in a number of African countries.

In general, relying on the base of startup projects available in the country, the process of international support of the domestic innovation sector was accelerated last year. Several agreements were concluded on joint projects and support from the relevant structures of Turkiye, Israel, as well as donor and technical assistance from the OECD, ICESCO, BP-Azerbaijan, etc. In particular, a similar agreement was signed in July last year between the largest Israeli venture company OurCrowd and the Azerbaijani Investment Company (AIC), and in the future this cooperation contributes to the commercialisation of experimental developments of startups and incubation centres in the field of artificial intelligence, transport, energy, healthcare, security, etc.

It is also appropriate to note here the huge support of Israeli defence companies in the formation of their own UAV production industry in Azerbaijan: Since 2011, the production of reconnaissance drones - Orbiter-2M and Aerostar - has been established in our country (the first in the post-Soviet space), subsequently the assembly of new generation vehicles, in particular Orbiter-3 and Orbiter-4, was localised, having greater autonomy and flight range, as well as a series of "kamikaze drones".

The experience of "drone building" accumulated by Azerbaijan is being converted at a new stage into the creation of new models for both military and civilian purposes, and such cooperation is planned to be established with Turkiye in the near future. In particular, not so long ago, Baykar's technical director Selcuk Bayraktar announced his readiness to create a high-tech enterprise in Azerbaijan for the production of UAVs (probably Bayraktar Akıncı drone), and the Turkish company also plans to expand cooperation in the development and application of artificial intelligence. Baykar plans to localise its activities in a technopark created jointly by the Digital Development and Transport Ministry and ASAN Service.

However, the prospects for cooperation with Turkiye in the field of IT technologies are much wider and include financial and technological support to local innovative structures. The first step in this direction was the decision of the Turkish venture fund Boğaziçi Ventures to allocate $5 million for the acceleration of Azerbaijani startup projects. In turn, with the support of the Turkish Industry and Technology Ministry, the GOSB Turkish Technopark, as well as the Azerbaijan Innovation Agency, a number of projects are planned to develop the startup ecosystem, including the creation of a joint Turkish-Azerbaijani technopark and Deneyap technology workshops. The joint project portfolio includes the development of innovative projects in the sector of renewable energy sources and energy-saving technologies, the introduction of IoT components in utilities, industry, shipbuilding, the development of artificial intelligence, the formation of DATA centers and the "government cloud", etc. Some of these initiatives are already being implemented with the support of Turkish and Israeli specialists in pilot projects to create "smart" villages in Azerbaijan's Zangilan and Fuzuli districts, where, in particular, UAVs will be actively used to control crops and pollination of land.

In the light of the above, it is quite obvious that a long-term and productive Turkish-Azerbaijani partnership in the field of high technologies in the future promises the formation of a qualitatively new industrial cluster in Azerbaijan - Industry 4.0. The aviation, cosmonautics and technology festival held in Baku plays the role of a driver accelerating the implementation of such initiatives.

"The high technologies of both Turkiye and Azerbaijan are presented during the festival, and this forum will play an important role in the technological development of the two countries," Turkish Industry and Technology Deputy Minister Mehmet Fatih Kachir said.

A similar opinion is shared by Azerbaijani specialists, in particular, ICT expert Elvin Abbasov, who believes that the TEKNOFEST Azerbaijan forum will be an important step in terms of attracting "intellectual" investments, and will help Azerbaijani students and young professionals with innovative ideas to find access to local and foreign donors and venture funds. And this is another step towards the commercialisation of pilot high-tech projects, and in the future to their localisation in the country.