Our Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal Has Been Re-elected as President of WAITRO

ITU Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal was unanimously re-elected as the President of the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations (WAITRO) for the 2025-2026 term at the 27th General Assembly Meeting. Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal stated that continuing his role as the President of WAITRO, which has nearly 200 institutional members from over 70 countries, for the next two years is a significant achievement for our country's international visibility.

İstanbul Technical University (ITU) Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal attended the WAITRO Global Summit held in Nanjing, China, from November 13-15, hosted by the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute (JITRI).

The summit, themed "From Innovation to Impact - Strategies for Sustainable Solutions," focused on how innovations can be transformed into tangible results and thus overcome global challenges. The WAITRO Global Summit aimed to fully reveal the great potential of innovation in addressing global issues such as climate change, inequality, and other challenges in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The summit served as an important platform for ensuring that innovations do not remain just ideas but are transformed into practical and sustainable solutions in real life. Throughout the summit, impact-focused strategies such as how to leverage the "digital revolution" to enable green transformation and how to protect indigenous technologies while opening them to global markets were discussed.

On the last day of the summit, Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal was unanimously re-elected as the President of WAITRO at the 27th General Assembly Meeting. Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal will continue his presidency at WAITRO, a role he has held since 2023, for the 2025-2026 term.

Our Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal stated that his presidency at WAITRO, which has nearly 200 institutional members from over 70 countries, is a significant achievement for Türkiye’s international visibility.

About WAITRO

WAITRO describes itself as a "global innovation family." It was established in 1970 under the auspices of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Since its inception, UNIDO has continued to play an important role as a partner. WAITRO has a consultative status that facilitates the exchange of information in close cooperation with UNIDO. Together, UNIDO and WAITRO work to strengthen the capacity of research institutions in developing countries. Sustainable industrial development and technological innovation are common goals of both organizations. They frequently collaborate on projects and initiatives to promote industrial development and technological innovation, actively sharing knowledge, expertise, and best practices to enhance the capacities of member organizations.

WAITRO plays a crucial role in uniting the R&D community by creating a common platform for international cooperation in R&D. WAITRO aims to establish a global innovation ecosystem where research and technology organizations, including universities, partner with the private sector and public entities to share knowledge, develop, and disseminate innovative technologies to create sustainable impacts on societies and economies.

Discussions shaping WAITRO's future roadmap

Our Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal held significant meetings in Nanjing to shape WAITRO's future roadmap together with the union members. Before the WAITRO Global Summit, Prof. Dr. Mandal attended the 95th Board of Directors Meeting on November 12, where the activities carried out in the second half of 2024 were evaluated. The meeting included assessments of key programs and activities within the WAITRO ecosystem, discussions on areas for development, and the 2025 plan.

The Importance of TEKNOFEST in "Sowing the Seeds of STEM"

Our Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal delivered a speech at the opening of the WAITRO Global Summit on November 13. In his presentation titled "Sowing Seeds of STEM for Impact: Empowering Youth for Sustainable Solutions," the ITU Rector discussed Türkiye's efforts in developing the research ecosystem with young people, fostering new ideas in the field of innovation, and achieving scientific successes, particularly emphasizing the importance of TEKNOFEST competitions.

Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal highlighted that the competitions held in Türkiye not only encourage the development of innovative solutions for digital and green transformation but also mobilize young people in a wide range of areas from electric vehicles to unmanned aerial vehicles, from vertical landing rockets to hyperloop technology. He emphasized the importance of both increasing global collaborations and sharing experiences to highlight the innovation potential of young people within the framework of digital and green transformation goals.

Emphasis on technology transfer and innovative knowledge production

On the second day of the summit, our Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal participated as a panelist in two important sessions titled "Leveraging Knowledge to Drive Science, Technology and Innovation" and "Building Resilient Cities against Disasters." In the first session, organized by the United Nations Technology Bank, he shared his views on technology transfer to strengthen regional development and achieve sustainable transformation in developing countries. In the session titled "Building Resilient Cities against Disasters," Prof. Dr. Mandal emphasized the importance of adopting multidisciplinary and multifaceted approaches in creating resilient structures against disasters and highlighted the innovative knowledge production focused on co-development models, sharing Türkiye's experiences.

Integrating the Talents of Two Different Regions of the World into WAITRO

On the last day of the summit, our Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal delivered a closing speech at the 27th General Assembly Meeting, providing a general evaluation to the participants. Additionally, Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal spoke at the session titled " Economic and Scientific Collaboration: Noord Brabant-Jiangsu-WAITRO Global Exchange” aimed at strengthening the economic and scientific cooperation ties between the Province of Noord Brabant, the Province of Jiangsu, and the global WAITRO network. Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal stated that the synergy between Noord Brabant's advancements in precision agriculture, autonomous technologies, waste management, and sustainable production, and Jiangsu's dynamic industrial and research strengths, presents a strong opportunity. The session, which featured discussions on circular economy, sustainable food technology, smart mobility, and advanced manufacturing, focused on integrating the talents of the two regions into the WAITRO community to jointly develop effective and scalable solutions that will advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.