Kastamonu University students were awarded third place, three honorable mentions, and the R&D Incentive Award in the III. Accessible and Reachable Turkiye 2053 Inter-University R&D Idea Competition.
The competition began on April 1, 2025, and ended with the completion of applications on June 30, 2025. It was organized into five categories: Road, Rail, Maritime, Aerospace, and Communication Technologies. First place in each category was set at 150,000 TL, second at 100,000 TL, and third at 75,000 TL. In addition to the projects deemed suitable by the evaluation committee, honorary awards were also given.
In the maritime category, the project titled "Green Transformation in Offshore Multimodal Transport: Smart and Sustainable Logistics HUB Approach," advised by Dr. Nazlıcan Dindarik from the Department of International Trade and Logistics at our university's Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, and researched by Buğra Akçahasan, won the third-place award.
In the road category, the "TRA-ÇİP" project, advised by Erhan Çelik, a lecturer in the Property Protection and Security Program at Kastamonu Vocational School, and researched by Gizem Koç, İdal Karacamuz, Tülin Dilmaç, and R. Anıl Palta, was awarded the most comprehensive honorable mention.
Two projects advised by Assist. Prof.Dr. Ahmet Nusret Özalp, a faculty member in the Department of Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, also received honorable mention awards. The first is the "CYBER-Light: Blockchain-Based Anonymous Cyber Threat Information Sharing Network" project, for which Tuğba Nur Can is the researcher. This project was awarded an honorable mention in the Communication category for "Reducing External Dependence." The second project was the "Artificial Intelligence-Supported Digital Twin Model for Increasing Efficiency and Environmental Performance in Port Operations," with Yusuf Eren Küçükçoban, Emre Çakmak, and Boran Demir as researchers. This project won an honorable mention for "Most Creative Project" in the Maritime category.
A total of 46 projects and 82 students were awarded in the competition, and the amount of prizes distributed reached 3 million 175 thousand TL. Some students from our university who participated were also supported with the R&D Incentive Award.
Regarding the achievement, our Rector, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hamdi Topal, stated, "Our students who participated in the competition and their academic advisors continue to add value to our University with their productive and innovative perspectives. These types of competitions broaden our students' horizons and lay the groundwork for developing ideas that will contribute to our country's 2053 goals. "We will always continue to support R&D and innovation efforts," he said.
Additionally, our Rector remarked, "We believe that successes will continue to increase in the coming period." "The awards we have received demonstrate the quality of the research and development activities carried out at our University," he added. He expressed gratitude to Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdülkadir Uraloğlu for encouraging R&D studies and to YÖK President Prof. Dr. Erol Özvar for supporting them.
