In order to ensure women’s equal participation in the field of engineering and establish a structure based on gender equality in engineering, Engineer Girls of Türkiye (TMK) project is carried out in partnership with Limak Foundation, the Ministry of Family and Social Services, and the United Nations Development Programme. In this project, students participated in the “Ideathon,” held this year as part of the second certificate program. The event was organized under the theme “Sustainable Cities and Communities.”
The “Sustainable Leadership with the Focus on Technology” certificate program, designed in collaboration with the Woman in Technology Association, aims to equip students with 21st-century skills. The program offered students the opportunity to improve themselves in areas such as R&D, innovation, digital transformation, sustainability, analytical and creative thinking. They developed projects that could put their education into practice, apply it, and come up with solutions to local problems. During the Ideathon, which had 9 teams, students designed a project based on the Sustainable Development Goal “SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.”
The final stage involved 5 teams, evaluated by a jury consisting of Ebru Özdemir, Chairwoman of Limak Companies Group and Limak Foundation Board of Directors; Zehra Öney, Founding President of the Woman in Technology Association; Fatma Yurtoğlu, Expert at the General Directorate on the Status of Women at the Ministry of Family and Social Services of the Republic of Türkiye; Pınar Özel, Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Strategy and Budget Directorate, Senior Strategy and Budget Specialist; Gökçe Bayrakçeken Tüzel, UNDP Gender Equality Specialist; Ahmet Dördüncü, CEO of Akkök Holding; Fügen Toksü, Founder and Chairwoman of Toksü & Chase; Erman Karaca, CTO of TAB Gıda.
The Ideathon evaluated criteria such as originality, creativity, sustainability, applicability, added value, presentation techniques, and teamwork in the evaluation of the projects. The team that developed the “W-Cycle” project became the winner of the Ideathon, developing a project aimed to reduce the unnecessary use of courier bags through a recycling project. The team that worked on the “Sustainability in Agriculture” project ranked second, utilizing artificial intelligence for disease detection, weather-based optimization, and irrigation system regulation. The team that developed the “Minimum Risk” project came in third, developing a project for a voice-based warning system to reduce casualties during earthquakes.
This year, the awards were presented by OlduBil, a brand of Limak Customer Solutions Inc. The first-place team members were awarded 1,000 TL each, the second-place team members received 750 TL each, and the third-place team members were granted 500 TL each through the MasterCard licensed prepaid card and mobile application, OlduBil.
“This year, the name of our certificate program is the Technology-Focused Sustainable Leadership Program,” Ebru Özdemir, Chairwoman of Limak Companies Group and Limak Foundation Board of Directors said. “Sustainability is everything now. We need to implement sustainability in a technology-focused manner because technology and digitization have reached incredible heights worldwide. Of course, ‘leadership’ was a subject we focused on when creating this program. Therefore, I am pleased to combine these three important concepts in the same pot this year: Technology-Sustainability-Leadership. With the Ideathons we organize, our goal is to put into practice the competencies students gain within the scope of the online education program. And to achieve this through teamwork and sisterhood. Just as important as Sustainability-Technology-Leadership is the concept of sisterhood. I always say that we need a ‘sisterhood’ network among women in education, social life, and business life. The way to do this, of course, goes through teamwork. This Ideathon final is a beautiful example of teamwork among our students studying in different engineering departments of universities in different cities of Türkiye. Therefore, I congratulate all the teams competing in Ideathon for their beautiful and creative ideas from the bottom of my heart.”
“We are living in a technological world where the world’s resources are scarce, but the population is increasing.” Zehra Öney, Founding President of the Women in Technology Association, said. “All of our business models, social lives, education systems, and state governance systems have become digitized. As a result, brand-new professions are emerging as the professions of the future. The “Engineer Girls of Türkiye” project, led by dear Ebru Özdemir under the umbrella of Limak, and in partnership with the Ministry of Family and Social Services, Strategy and Budget Directorate of the the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye, and UNDP, is a highly effective project in terms of enabling female engineers to contribute to the workforce, ensuring the world’s sustainability, and supporting gender equality in this area while Türkiye transforms into a technological society. We expect the female engineer girls participating in this project to become our role models in a world of uncertainties where new technologies automate processes and transform the world. We expect them to emerge as leaders with their technical knowledge, broad worldview, creativity, and social skills. We, as the Woman in Technology Association, are proud to be a part of such a project.”
