The IEEE ClimateChain Global Hackathon 2026 invites students, researchers, developers, designers and changemakers worldwide to build climate solutions on blockchain and AI. Across a three-week build window, teams work on carbon transparency, renewable energy, sustainable supply chains and climate resilience. FUTURETECH is involved in this IEEE initiative, which our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, takes part in.

Timeline

• Official announcement and launch — 15 July 2026
• Registration opens — 15 July 2026
• Hackathon (3 weeks) — 5–25 October 2026
• Submission deadline — 25 October 2026
• Judging (2 weeks) — 26 October – 8 November 2026
• Winners announced — 10–21 November 2026 (as part of COP31 Türkiye)
• Prizes and certificates — Before 31 January 2027

Preparation sessions

• 18 August 2026 — Introducing the IEEE Global ClimateChain Hackathon project
• 27 August 2026 — AI and cyber security issues for climate change
• 15 September 2026 — Blockchain and AI for climate change
• 22 September 2026 — Ethics and responsibility for ClimateChain and climate change
• 5 October 2026 — Good practices for climate change

Partners IEEE Blockchain Türkiye · IEEE Blockchain · IEEE Türkiye Section · IEEE Orange County Computer Society · IEEE Orange County EMBS · IEEE Southern California Council · IEEE TechSus · İstanbul Ticaret Odası · İstanbul Sanayi Odası · Yapay Zekâ Ekosistemi Derneği

ASFAT — Askeri Fabrika ve Tersane İşletme A.Ş. — welcomed our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, to the conference series it holds every week. The session turned on what the age of artificial intelligence means strategically for the defense industry. Sağıroğlu set out where the ecosystem stands today, the openings it creates and the risks institutions should not overlook.

The presentation underlined that artificial intelligence cannot be read as software alone. Where national security and defense infrastructure are involved, it produces a critical multiplier. One reference point of the session was “2026-2030 Ulusal Yapay Zekâ Stratejisi ve Eylem Planı” (the 2026-2030 national artificial intelligence strategy and action plan), released to the public on 13 June 2026.

The program also took up what intelligent systems contribute to the national defense industry and how artificial intelligence can be embedded in institutional processes. ASFAT General Manager Prof. Dr. Mustafa İlbaş hosted the event.

On 16 July 2026 our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, and Levent Ali Yıldız of the AI Ecosystem Association met the head of the Directorate of Climate Change, Prof. Dr. Halil Hasar, at his office. The first item on the agenda was the strategic role artificial intelligence technologies can play in climate action.

The second was COP31, due in November 2026. The two sides went over the work that could be undertaken in the run-up to it.

The visit also covered technology- and data-led solutions. The question there was how such solutions can be built into the climate response at national as well as global scale.

ICCSDFAI — “2026 Uluslararası Siber Güvenlik, Dijital Adli Bilişim ve Yapay Zeka Uygulamaları Konferansı”, the 2026 international conference on cyber security, digital forensics and artificial intelligence applications — is run with IEEE support. It was announced for 25-27 June 2026, with İstinye University in Istanbul as the venue.

Our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, was announced as co-chair of the conference. The program brings together cyber security specialists, researchers and leading thinkers from many countries.

The engineering agenda of the Turkic world gathered in Baku on 5-8 May 2026. Announced both as “IV. Türk Dünyası Mühendislik Konferansı” (the 4th Turkic World Engineering Conference) and as “IV. Uluslararası Mühendislik Zirvesi” (the 4th International Engineering Summit), the meeting held its main sessions on 6 and 7 May. The venue was the JW Marriott Absheron Baku.

Our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Saadin Oyucu and Levent Ali Yıldız of the AI Ecosystem Association took part in strength. The three of them led the vision set out under the headings “Üretken Yapay Zeka” (generative artificial intelligence) and “Ortak Teknoloji” (shared technology). The motto of the gathering was announced as “Ortak Gelecek, Ortak Teknoloji” — a common future, a common technology.

ICADA 2026, the 6th international conference on data science and artificial intelligence, ran from 20 to 22 April 2026 at Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University. It was organized in cooperation with İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University.

Our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, attended as an invited speaker and delivered a talk titled “Büyük Dil Modellerinin Fırsat ve Riskleri ile Geleceğimiz” (the opportunities and risks of large language models, and our future). In the same program he chaired the panel “Yapay Zeka Etiği ve Hukuk” (AI ethics and law). He also joined the meeting of the directors of university “Yapay Zeka Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezleri” (AI application and research centers).

A training session for public servants was held at the Ankara provincial directorate for relations with civil society on 10 April 2026. It was delivered by our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu.

The session was titled “Yapay Zeka Dünyası ve Geleceğimiz: Yapay Zeka, Büyük Dil Modelleri ve OpenClaw” (the world of AI and our future: AI, large language models and OpenClaw). Sağıroğlu went through recent progress in the field and what it takes to put such technologies to work inside an institution. He also addressed where these technologies stand today, how they can be drawn into civil society work, and how working life is likely to change.

The 31st National Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Congress, held with international participation, met at Granada Luxury Belek in Antalya on 2-5 April 2026. Our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, took the podium twice.

The first talk was titled “Tıpta Yapay Zeka: Nöro-görüntüleme ve Prognoz Tahmini” (AI in medicine: neuroimaging and prognosis prediction). The second was “Sağlıkta Yapay Zekanın Geleceği” (the future of AI in health).

“Reel Piyasalar” (real markets), broadcast on 105.8 ST Endüstri Radyo, welcomed our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, at 09.25 on the morning of Friday 27 March 2026. The program is produced and presented by Çetin Ünsalan. The interview ran in its “İş'te Gündem” (business agenda) segment.

The conversation covered the latest movement in the artificial intelligence ecosystem. Its second thread was how that movement is feeding into industrial transformation.

On Thursday 26 March 2026 the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) held an event titled “Dijitalleşme ve Yapay Zekâ: Veriden Değer Üretmek” (digitalization and AI: creating value from data) in its assembly hall. Our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, chaired the second session.

The event examined, in the round, the transformation generative artificial intelligence is bringing to business, and drew attention to the strategic weight data has acquired as a factor of production. The event was picked up widely by the national press.

The Forest Fire Response Department of the General Directorate of Forestry (OGM) ran a training program in Antalya on 16-20 February 2026. It was titled “Orman Yangınlarıyla Mücadele Çalışmalarında Sayısal Telsiz Haberleşme Sistemleri ve Yeni Gelişen Teknolojiler Eğitimi” (digital radio communication systems and emerging technologies in forest fire response). Our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, took part as a speaker. Kemal Kayıran, director of the Antalya regional forestry directorate, and Alper Yılmaz, head of the forest fire response department, opened the week before specialists drawn from headquarters and field units.

Sağıroğlu spoke under two titles: “Üretken Yapay Zeka: Bir Dünya Turu” (generative AI: a world tour) and “Üretken Yapay Zekaya Stratejik Bakış” (a strategic view of generative AI). The program covered the fire management system, Yangıncell, camera networks and communication technology. He said OGM is the institution putting artificial intelligence to its most effective field use in the country, and pointed to the results obtained in AI-supported fire detection with unmanned aerial vehicles.

Building an artificial intelligence ecosystem inside the institution, he argued, is a strategic choice — one needed more than ever under the pressure of climate change. These technologies, he said, work as a multiplier in protecting “Yeşil Vatan” (the green homeland). He added that OGM has the depth to develop its own large language model, and proposed “Kıvılcım” as the name for it.

A panel held in Ankara on 13 February 2026 was titled “Klasik Sömürgecilikten Veri Sömürgeciliğine: Dijital Çağda Hegemonya” (from classical colonialism to data colonialism: hegemony in the digital age). Our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, took part in the panel.

The session examined the notion of data colonialism and the shift in digital power balances. The capacity of artificial intelligence to transform society and the economy was weighed in that frame. Ethical frameworks, the security of data and the course national technology policy will take were also on the table.

International IEEE Blockchain Workshop Ankara 2026 met on 6 February 2026 in cooperation with IISEC 2026. Our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, attended as an invited speaker.

Digital assets, simulation, large language models and blockchain technology were on the agenda. Sağıroğlu's talk focused on how trustworthy digital infrastructure can be integrated with artificial intelligence.

On 4 February 2026 our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, gave a presentation at the Presidency of Strategy and Budget in Ankara. It was titled “Dijital Okuryazarlıktan Yapay Zeka Okuryazarlığına” (from digital literacy to artificial intelligence literacy).

Making productive use of data was the axis of the talk. Sağıroğlu also took up algorithmic ways of thinking and the connection public administration can build with artificial intelligence.

Gazi University held the second national clean energy technologies workshop in Ankara on 8 January 2026. Meeting under the title “Nükleer Enerjide Yeni Çağ: SMR Teknolojileri ve Üretken Yapay Zeka” (a new era in nuclear energy: SMR technology and generative AI), the program centered on small modular reactors (SMRs). Our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, led it together with Prof. Dr. H. Mehmet Şahin.

Gathered around the vision “Geleceğin Enerjisi İçin Güç Birliği” (joining forces for the energy of the future), the workshop also drew Orhan Aydın, president of the OSTİM organized industrial zone, and Dr. Abdullah Buğrahan Karaveli, president of TENMAK. Sessions weighed the strategic place of SMRs in Türkiye's energy independence and how these technologies can be integrated with artificial intelligence.

On 5 December 2025 Türk Mühendisler Derneği (TMD) held an event at the BTK conference hall titled “Ülkemizde Mühendisliğin Geleceği” (the future of engineering in our country). During the program our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, was presented with the “Mühendislik Üstün Hizmet Ödülü” (distinguished service award in engineering).

The award was given for outstanding service to the engineering profession and for contributions to the growth of the artificial intelligence ecosystem in Türkiye. The presentation took place as part of the association's program at BTK.

The third Turkic World International Engineering Summit took place at the presidential White Hall in Nicosia in October 2025. Mühendisler Derneği handled the organization. The summit counted among the more significant meetings bringing together the engineering and technology agenda of the Turkic world.

Our CEO, Prof. Dr. Şeref Sağıroğlu, and Levent Ali Yıldız contributed to the program. The opening was attended by Ziya Öztürkler, acting president of the TRNC and speaker of its assembly, and by Ali Murat Başçeri, ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye in Nicosia.