The İHKİB Competition for Innovative Ideas, organized by the Istanbul Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters' Association in collaboration with the Ministry of National Education, has ended. 415 students were present at the competition with their participation from "Textile Technologies, Marketing, Retail, Graphic Design, Handicrafts" fields of study led by 54 Vocational and Technical Anatolian High Schools in Istanbul, especially in the field of Fashion Design Technologies. Including the commercialization steps of the business idea with the product and service coupled with innovative concepts, the competition, consisting of 3 stages, including product development departments, was held in a completely digital environment. In the final of the competition, in which 83 teams, each divided to group of five participants, 18 teams and 90 students were in a tough competition.
Non-flammable, stain-resistant fabric: AURA project wins
In the final competition marked by female students, Selçuk Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School has the second place with the apron project “AURA”, which does not burn, sweat and does not stain, developed for chefs and cooks in the food and beverage sector of Nişantaşı Rüştü Uzel Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School for people who cannot swim and have fear of water. Kartal Sabiha Gökçen Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School ranked third with the "MODROP" project, which was used for combiners clothing materials in accordance with the climatic conditions, color and fabric characteristics. In the final, monetary prize were awarded with the winner as 25.000TL, runner as 20.000TL and competitor as 15.000TL.
Haydar Akın Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School won the "Best Teamwork" award of 5.000 TL with the button project "DÜBORTEKS" was bringing to the competition involving processing of olive seed to access greener production and İHKİB Kağıthane Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School with their virtual design consultancy application "SEASD" . They were deemed worthy. Üsküdar İMKB Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School received the Jury Special Prize with a prize of 7.500 TL for the “CLEAN SHOES DRY CLEANER” project, which provides cleaning, care and hygiene for shoes. The winning teams, who received the special jury award and the best teamwork award, were also nominated for the IMA Education Award and the LCW Academy Education Award.
Unsinkable Swimwear Preventing Drowning, Workwear Preventing Electric Shock
In the competition where beautiful, innovative and applicable ideas competed, T-shirt that communicates user about the rising fever of the wearer, unsinkable swimsuit that prevents drowning, clothes that prevent mountaineers, mentally disabled people and children from getting lost, workwear that protects workers from electric shocks, unimpeded shopping practice for the visually impaired, weather conditions and daily schedule. Accordingly, the applications combiners clothing pieces in the wardrobe were among the projects that will shape the future of the sector.
Three Magical Words "Design, Sustainability, Innovation"
In the opening speech of İHKİB President Mustafa Gültepe at the awards ceremony: “The Competition for Innovative Ideas reminded us of a reality once again. We should strengthen industry-school cooperation more in vocational education. We should transfer the knowledge and experience of the private sector to young people at early ages of schooling. Moreover, we should give our young people the opportunity and encourage them. We now live in a digital world. The digital universe offers great opportunities for all sectors. Let's face it, young people are familiar with the codes of that digital universe much better than we do. Besides digitization, there are three more magical words for our fashion industry. One is 'design', the other is 'sustainability', that is sustainable production. Another is entrepreneurship and innovation. We must focus on these areas in order to maintain our global competitiveness and increase our value-added exports. While strengthening our technological infrastructure, we should also benefit from the creative ideas of our young people. I believe that the Competition for Innovative Ideas will be the meeting point of our talented young people with the industry. I congratulate all our young people who participated in the competition. I think everyone participating in this marathon is the champion.“
Our industry Exported 28 Billion 500 Million Dollars
In his speech, Minister of Commerce Ruhsar Pekcan stated that the textile industry had exported 28 billion 500 million dollars last year and said, “Today, we are developing towards a structure based on competition based on quality, technology, R&D, innovation, design and branded product exports rather than price-based competition. . As the Ministry of Trade, we are aware of how valuable and decisive the studies in the field of education are for the future of our country. We continue our work within the framework of the education cooperation protocol on improving foreign trade that we signed with the Ministry of National Education in 2019. For each academic year, we continue to provide important support to our vocational high schools, with the approval of our ministry, to be covered from the budget of the Istanbul Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters Union. Very important activities are carried out such as academic achievement and financial support based scholarship for students, machine and equipment installation support, trainings given to teachers and students at Istanbul Fashion Academy, and support for the placement of graduates.’’
Pekcan said, “Dear young people, the goals of our country are enormous. We will take our place amongst the most developed countries in the world by working, producing more and better. We are taking firm steps towards this goal. We will come to a much more advanced point by putting putting them on top of our achievements in textile and apparel fashion. We trust you."
Stating that the Competition for Innovative Ideas made significant contributions to the professional development of our students, MEB Vocational and Technical Education General Director Prof.Dr. Kemal Varin Numanoglu has made a great contribution to the professional development of our students in the fields of entrepreneurship, creating a business idea, transforming the business idea into a product and registering the design and trademark of these products. Our young people who receive vocational and technical education actually turn their dreams into reality by transforming their knowledge into skills and products. As a result, our young employees produce and will add great value to Turkey's future."
A Better Future, Turkey with Rising Exports
In his speech, TİM President İsmail Gülle to the attention of young people: “As the members of the export family, we will always continue to support you in success and failure. We believe that we have come a long way in the development of this ecosystem with the intensive work we have carried out in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship. We have a long way to go, but I believe in this cause together we will build a better Turkey with constant innovative works. We will achieve our dream with our young workforce whom working with innovative approach, as such a country looking ahead to a better future with exports.
