The project presentations and award ceremony of the ‘2nd Young Generations Compete’ Project Competition, sponsored by Uşak University, BİREVİM and HEFİAD, was held on 5 November 2024.

Rector Prof. Dr. Ekrem Savaş, Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Lütfi Özav, President of Halal Finance Research Association Mehmet Gürdaş, Uşak University Technology Transfer Office Coordinator Assoc. Prof. Dr. Atike İnce Yardımcı and UTTO team, chairman of the competition jury Prof. Dr. Hamdi Melih Sarıışık, academic and administrative staff and students attended the event held at the Faculty of Fine Arts Mustafa Kemal Paşa Amphitheatre.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Rector Prof. Dr. Ekrem Savaş stated that as Uşak University, they are happy to hold the second Young Generations Competing Project Competition, organised in cooperation with the Halal Finance Research Association and BİREVİM. Rector Savaş said, ‘We continue to work to make our University a prestigious education and research institution with our efforts to increase our innovative and entrepreneurial activities, project competitions and research projects.

Rector Savaş: ‘’Uşak University is a university that stands out in student projects. In 2023, 126 of our students were supported by TÜBİTAK.‘’

Rector Savaş pointed out that it is very important for students to adopt the project culture and said, ‘We have proven this with the breakthrough we have made in TÜBİTAK 2209 undergraduate student projects in recent years. In 2023, a total of 126 students were entitled to be supported by TÜBİTAK. The increasing interest of our students in science and technology and their efforts to be included in the technology entrepreneurship ecosystem are also extremely important for the technological and economic progress of our country.

-43 projects from 21 universities were evaluated in the competition. 9 projects made it to the finals.

Prof. Dr. Savaş stated that the Young Generations Competing Project Competition, which was held today, is the 2nd competition organised only for students, but Uşak University has previously organised 3 project markets including academicians and industrialists and that all project competitions attracted great interest. Savaş said, ‘In today's competition, 43 projects from 21 universities from different fields such as textile, electronics, information technologies, energy and machine technologies, biomedical, chemistry, environment, food, psychology and design were evaluated and today we will have the chance to listen to the finalist 9 projects that received the highest score in the evaluations.

Rector Savaş: ‘’I hope that the projects will contribute to the R&D activities of our country and that high value-added products can be produced.‘’

Rector Savaş stated that they hope that among these projects, projects that will enable us to find a permanent place in the domestic and foreign markets will emerge, contribute to the R&D studies of our country, and produce high value-added products, and stated that it is an honour to be an intermediary as Uşak University to present the products that will result from the projects to the service of our province and our country.

At the end of his speech, Rector Prof. Dr. Ekrem Savaş said ‘I would like to thank our stakeholders, Halal Finance Research Association and BİREVİM for their support, and I wish success to all projects to be presented within the scope of the event. I congratulate all project owners in advance.

Mehmet Gürdaş, President of Halal Finance Research Association, said in his speech that they are happy to be a stakeholder of the ‘Young Generations Competing’ project competition and wished that the project ideas will be beneficial for Uşak and our country. Gürdaş emphasised that all scientific and technological studies should be a source of happiness, prosperity and peace for everyone in the world, and in this context, he expressed his belief that young generations will build a future full of well-being for our nation and our country.

After the opening speeches, presentations of 9 finalist projects were made. After the project presentations, awards were presented to the projects that were deemed worthy of the award.