METU was awarded two awards, including first prize, in “Patenting Turkey – 2nd National Universities Patent Competition” organized by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TÜRKPATENT), at the ceremony on October 16, 2020. The competition is organized to increase university students’ awareness of patents as one of the most critical technological development tools and enable students to gain knowledge and experience in patent research and patent application.
Our student Deniz Yanık has won the first prize and a cash prize of 30 thousand TLs with the invention of “The therapy device set that offers auditory therapies for children between the ages of 5 and 7 with neurological hearing (auditory processing disorder-APD) disorders. Our student Deniz Öztürk was also entitled to receive a cash award of five thousand TLs with the invention of “End-stretch and invisible connection system provided by induction”. Both of our students have received their awards from Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank and our Rector Prof. Dr. Mustafa Verşan Kök.
Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank stated in his speech at the ceremony of “Patenting in Turkey Competition” that 584 patent applications from 98 universities are received, and the applications were mostly on electrical and electronics, machinery, automotive, biomedical, chemistry, and construction, all of which are registered under the Patent Records of Turkey. The minister also pointed out that they will always support young people and exhibit the inventions at the International Invention Fair held within TEKNOFEST. Mustafa Varank also said that they would support the young people’s participation in fairs to meet foreign investors.
TÜRKPATENT President Prof. Dr. Habip Asan stated at the ceremony that they have been working effectively for universities for ten years, and one of the activities they carried out is the Intellectual Property Knowledge Dissemination Project in Turkey’s Universities. He said, “The award ceremony taking place today is about this. We made a qualified study and determined the patents that made it to the finals and ranked for this event. While determining them, our jury considered four basic elements: invention, commercialization, economic benefit, and social benefit potential. We will not leave our award-winning students alone in the future. We are ready to provide all kinds of information, contribution, and consultancy to commercialize these patents. We’ll be in touch on these issues.”
