6 awards for young inventors

The success of Izmir University of Economics (IUE) students marked the ‘Genç Beyinler Yeni Fikirler’ (Young Minds New Ideas)’ project competition, held for the 13^th time this year under the leadership of the Turkish Informatics Association. IUE students achieved great success by winning 6 awards in the competition where a total of 12 awards were given in 4 categories. The young inventors, who made a difference with their innovative projects and ideas in the categories of ‘education, entertainment, and games’, ‘industry and transportation’, and ‘society and health’, experienced great happiness.

The ‘Young Minds New Ideas’ project competition and exhibition, organized to contribute to the development of the informatics sector in the Aegean Region and to bring young talents together with companies, took place with the participation of 108 projects and 306 students, hosted by Izmir University of Economics. Students from 12 different universities had the opportunity to present their projects directly to companies. The young people, who established social network and got to know the entrepreneurship ecosystem, had an unforgettable experience.

MOBILE TRAINING FOR ICE HOCKEY

IUE students Abdullah Karakuş, Bilal Aksoy, Enes Burak Özdemir, and Umut Bayraktaroğlu developed a mobile application that gamifies ice hockey training, achieving first place in the ‘education, entertainment, and games’ category. Students Ali Ozan Başoğul, Berdan Yolcu, Fatma Melilke Buyruk, Kaan Nakipoğlu, and Uzay Kayra Çetinkaya won second place in the same category with their application ‘Divine’, which aims to create an interactive environment with participants at music events.

THEY DID NOT FORGET INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES

The team consisting of Cemile Dilvin Ağaçhanlı, Nilay Güler, and Şamil Nugay developed an application named ‘SignDet’, which converts sign language gestures and sound signals into text format for individuals with disabilities. This project won second place in the ‘society and health’ category. The project prepared by Ecem Konca, Gülce Berfin Ercan, İlhan Mert Çetin, and Melis Baran, which aims to distinguish between poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms using a convolutional neural network, also won third place in the same category.

IT WILL PROVIDE EARLY DIAGNOSIS

IUE students Cansu Çelebioğlu and Ece Titiz achieved second place in the ‘industry and transportation’ category with their innovative, low-cost, and accessible solution using sound data for the early fault detection of machines. Nilay Güler, Sudenaz Basut, and Yağmur Kurtbaş won third place in the same category with their work, which aims to increase the accuracy of diagnoses by dermatologists and encourage early diagnosis of such cancers using artificial intelligence.

WE ENCOURAGE AND SUPPORT

Congratulating all the students who participated in the competition, Prof. Dr. Yaşar Güneri Şahin, Dean of IUE Faculty of Engineering, said, “We constantly encourage and support students to produce new projects. We know that it is not enough to just provide theoretical education; young people need to transform the knowledge they learn into projects and applications. Our students participate in many competitions throughout the year with this goal in mind. This motivation positively affects students’ academic success and future career goals. The ‘Young Minds New Ideas’ project competition is a very good example of this. Before the competition, our students underwent a very meticulous and comprehensive study process under the supervision of their academics. By winning awards, they showed how well they have developed themselves. I am proud of all students who participated in the competition, whether they won an award or not, and I congratulate them.”