In total, 900 students from 75 different universities participated in the Design the Sustainable Future competition with 585 different projects on the theme of "Self-Sufficient and Efficient Living Spaces". The concepts of sustainability, entrepreneurship, inclusiveness and future came to the fore at the award ceremony and 'From Today to the Sustainable Future' webinar of the 6th Design the Sustainable Future Competition organized by Rönesans Holding. According to the statement made by Rönesans Holding, the award ceremony and webinar hosted speeches by TABİT Co-Founder and Vodafone atıllı Village Founder Tülin Akın Prof. Dr. Özgür Demirtaş, Ufuk Tarhan and social entrepreneurship platform Ashoka Turkey team members İstem D. Akalp, Mert Fırat, Uygar Özesmi. İpek Ilıcak Kayaalp, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rönesans Holding, who made a speech at the opening of the ceremony, stated that the team selected as the winner of the competition consisted of 5 young female architects and said: "Women having a say in the construction of the future will play a key role in overcoming the difficulties we are going through and looking to the future with hope. It is our social responsibility to get maximum power from women's employment in every field from education to architecture in order to make our future sustainable.
"Adopting Hybrid Living as a Priority"
Tülin Akın, Founder of TABİT Smart Agricultural Technologies Inc. shared a story big enough to lead the way to technological agriculture in the deserts of Algeria from a one-page website. ' session, Futurist Ufuk Tarhan, who gave advice to young people about the future and being in the business world, emphasized that it is not possible to change or improve everything at once, and that it is important to first adopt hybrid life and the concept of being hybrid. Tarhan stated that while people inevitably live the stereotyped truths of the past with a hybrid lifestyle, they can also realize what needs to be done in the future at the same time. Tarhan said to young people, "We are in an age where we need to learn on our own, think on our own (autodidactism) and take responsibility on ourselves. Whatever subject you want to devote yourself to, remember that the responsibility of learning is to go beyond the curriculum given to you and achieve it on your own. For this, we need to work hard.
900 Students Participated with 585 Group Projects
Stating that while imagining the future, we are going through a period in which we should not deviate from the path of 'sustainable development' in environmental, economic and social terms even for a moment, Kayaalp said: "We are in a position to shape the development and change of the sector with our quality standards, technology, customer orientation and employee satisfaction in the markets we operate in. In this context, as a leading player and role model, we aim to raise the future talents of the sector with an awareness of sustainability. Thus, we believe that we will be able to transfer the opportunities offered to us to new generations. 6 years ago, we set out with this vision and launched the Design the Sustainable Future competition. The increasing interest of young people in the subject every year has increased our motivation. Today, we are proud and happy to have reached more than 100,000 university students through both the promotions, trainings and seminars we organize by visiting an average of 25 universities across Turkey every year and the applications for the competition. This year, 900 students from 75 different universities participated in our competition with 585 group projects. We made a difficult selection for 10 different categories among the creative ideas, each of which contains incredible details and uses the theme of sustainability in designing the future. I would like to congratulate all the students who participated, especially the 28 young people with creative ideas.
"Technology at the Heart of Sustainability"
At the event, which continued with speeches by future visionaries, Prof. Dr. Özgür Demirtaş, in his speech titled 'Sustainable Future: Economy and New Trends', he stated that since technology is the basis of sustainability and art is right in the middle of technology, young people should be more intertwined with technology and art in the life that lies ahead of them, and only in this way can they have a say in the future.Demirtaş emphasized that the right decisions must be made in order to ensure sustainability in the economy, and that companies can become sustainable with the right feasibility, merit and transparency. In the panel moderated by Ashoka Turkey Co-Director İstem D. Akalp, Mert Fırat, Founder of İhtiyaç Haritası, Uygar Özesmi, Founder of Good4Trust, and Tülin Akın, Founder of TABİT Smart Agricultural Technologies AŞ, told their own inspiring social entrepreneurship stories to young people and emphasized the importance of the correct use of resources to ensure a sustainable future. In the panel where sustainable social entrepreneurship projects were also evaluated, it was underlined that everyone can do something in their own field to ensure sustainability.
