Istanbul Designathon 2024 Set the Stage for Innovative Designs

The Istanbul Designathon 2024 Final, hosted by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry Industrial Design and Prototyping Center (ISO ETP), was completed with the participation of Hakan Çoban, Deputy Secretary General of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry, jury members, and finalist design team members. Istanbul Designathon 2024, which was held for the first time this year with the theme “Designs for the Promotion of Turkish Food Culture,” attracted attention to innovative and sustainable industrial design projects.

Innovative Approaches to the Food Sector

Within the framework of this year's theme, innovative designs for the procurement, preparation, cooking, presentation, and packaging stages in the food industry competed. Istanbul Designathon 2024 aimed to both promote traditional Turkish food culture and integrate modern technology and sustainability. The finalist projects received full marks from the jury members for their creativity and functionality.

Designs That Carried Teams to the Finals

Team Aloha: They attracted attention with their mobile application that enables temperature tracking of ordered food. This application aims to increase customer satisfaction by ensuring that food reaches customers at the ideal temperature.

Team Atol-YE: They stood out with their innovative project idea that envisions local culinary culture as an ecosystem of experience services. The project aims to offer a cultural journey to users by presenting local food experiences on a digital platform.

Team Çekbük: They made it to the finals with an innovative skewer design inspired by traditional stick skewers. This design was appreciated by the jury members for both its usefulness and aesthetics.

Team TarBaGos: They attracted a lot of attention with their project to prepare and package tarhana, a traditional Turkish dish, in the form of chips and offer them for sale. The project aims to create a new market by offering traditional flavors in a modern snack form.

Jury Members and Evaluation Process

The jury members of the competition consisted of experts in their fields:

Bilal Çinici: ISO ETP General Manager

Prof. Dr. Gülname Turan: Lecturer at ITU Department of Industrial Design

Mahmut Kılıçbay: ISO ETP Design and Manufacturing Coordinator

Ferruccio Fenoglio: IDEA4ISTANBUL Project Team Leader

Çağrı Gizem Varlı: Lecturer at ITU Department of Industrial Design

The jury evaluated the projects according to the criteria of innovation, applicability, sustainability, and preservation of cultural values.

First Prize to Team TarBaGos

The winner of the competition was Team TarBaGos, which presented traditional tarhana in a modern snack form. Team TarBaGos, which received full marks from the jury members for their innovative ideas and successful presentations, won the first prize.