High School and University Entrepreneurs Pitched Their Ideas to Investors

High school and university students took their business ideas to investors after identifying everyday problems that often go unnoticed. At the Yeditepe Yeni Fikir Demo Day, held at Teknopark Istanbul, students who reached the final round presented their projects to angel investors and industry representatives after months of preparation.

An Idea Inspired by Air Pollution

Among the presenters was Defne Topaloğlu, an 11th-grade student at İSTEK Schools, who said they had noticed that people most affected by air pollution often do not know what to do in their daily lives. Defne said this situation poses a serious risk, particularly for asthma patients and individuals with respiratory conditions, and explained the mobile application they developed to address this problem, called AirBuddy.

Defne said air pollution data is collected through sensors installed on city buses. “Through the app, users can see the air quality in their area. They can learn what times of day they should go outside and what precautions they should take in their daily lives,” she said.

Stating that the process had been an important experience for them, Defne said, “This project taught us more than how to develop an idea. It also taught us how to express ourselves and speak in front of an audience. I am much more confident than I was last year.”

A Student Looking for Events, a Club Looking for Sponsors

Another presenter, Doruk Kadir Sezer, a second-year student in the Management Information Systems Department at Yeditepe University, said they had focused on a matching problem that almost everyone experiences in university life, but that often goes unnoticed. Doruk said students struggle to find events that match their interests, while student clubs have difficulty securing sponsors to bring their events to life.

Doruk said these two needs, in fact, meet at the same point. “On one side, there are students looking for events. On the other hand, some clubs are struggling to find sponsors. By bringing these two sides together with companies in the same structure, we developed a more efficient system for everyone. As a solution to this problem, we designed a structure that brings students, clubs, and sponsors together under one roof.”

61 Teams Applied, 11 Ventures Took the Stage

A total of 61 teams, comprising high school and university students, applied this year to the Yeditepe Yeni Fikir program, which is run by Yeditepe University. After the preliminary evaluation, 25 teams were selected and received training and mentoring to develop their projects. A total of 11 ventures, including 6 university teams and 5 high school teams, successfully completed the process and presented their projects to investors as part of Demo Day.

The young entrepreneurs presented projects they had developed in areas such as artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, defense, deep technology, smart cities, sustainability, consumer electronics, health, and food. Following the presentations, the entrepreneurs were given certificates of participation.

“Producing Knowledge Is Not Enough. We Need to Produce Solutions.”

Speaking at the Yeditepe Yeni Fikir Demo Day, Yeditepe University Vice Rector Prof. Oğuz Bayat said the technology field will undergo a very rapid transformation in the coming years. Bayat said institutions and countries that adapt to this transformation early will gain significant advantages, adding that resisting change will increase costs and create serious gaps between universities and industries.

Bayat said knowledge production processes are accelerating through artificial intelligence-supported systems. “It is no longer enough for knowledge simply to have been produced. What matters is whether that knowledge provides a solution to a real problem. Universities and industry need to question more closely whether the knowledge being produced is accurate and whether it is being turned into practice,” he said.

Bayat said the university has adopted an entrepreneurship-focused education model, adding that the Technology Transfer Office, research centers, and pre-incubation and incubation structures operate with an integrated approach. “Students should be educated not only through academic knowledge, but through an entrepreneurial culture as well.”

“It Is Extremely Important and Valuable for Young People to Bring Their Ideas into the Field”

Teknopark Istanbul General Manager Prof. Abdurrahman Akyol, who also spoke at the event, pointed to the importance of ideas developed at a young age meeting the real ecosystem. “Technoparks are not only spaces where technology is produced. They are also structures where ideas mature, are tested, and meet investors. It is extremely important and valuable for high school and university students to bring their projects into the field at this age,” he said.

Akyol said university-industry collaboration is a cornerstone of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. “Programs like this enable young people not only to generate ideas, but also to recognize the expectations of the business world at an early stage. As Teknopark Istanbul, we attach great importance to strengthening this contact.”