ISTANBUL, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The latest high-tech innovative products from Chinese companies, such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Vivo, have attracted extensive attention at an ongoing innovation fair in Türkiye's biggest city Istanbul.
Türkiye Innovation Week, organized by the Turkish Exporters Assembly, started on Monday with an opening ceremony attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other distinguished local and foreign guests.
ICBC Turkey Bank, a leading member of the Istanbul Chinese Businessmen and Industrialists Association, organized and sponsored the Chinese Innovative Products and Services Show at the fair.
The wide range of products on display at the kiosks of the Chinese companies include mobile phones, smart watches, smart pet food feeders, pet water fountains and robot vacuum cleaners. Models of China's construction machines and high-speed trains also amazed many of the visitors.
Soner Oksuz, a senior student of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of Hacettepe University in Türkiye's capital Ankara, expressed his strong interest in the technology behind Chinese innovations.
"There is actually an extensive range of technology here. Especially since I am an electrical and electronics engineering student, projects on energy efficiency or battery management caught my attention the most," Oksuz told Xinhua.
Buse Nur Asircilar, another visitor, watched attentively the models from Chinese construction companies, including a drilling tool and a bullet train driving on a railway.
"I visited these kiosks because I am curious about China's engineering and its achievements in the field ... The models here opened a new horizon regarding structural construction works," Asircilar told Xinhua.
Speaking at a panel discussion of the event, Wu Jian, the acting Consul General of China in Istanbul, said Chinese companies would increase investment in R&D, improve innovation capabilities, and work with innovative countries including Türkiye to expand international innovation cooperation.
"The (Chinese) government has set innovation as a primary goal for further development," Wu added.
In the Global Innovation Index 2022 provided by the World Intellectual Property Organization, a UN specialized agency, China's rank has risen to the 11th among the 132 economies surveyed.
At the same panel meeting, Turkish Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Cetin Ali Donmez praised China's innovation-related achievements.
"China is now a country that produces technology, and its population uses technology intensively," Donmez said.
"The number of scientific articles and referenced scientific articles have also exploded in China. They are advancing very fast in terms of technology," he added.
Tang Yuezhen, the chief representative of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) International Representative Office in Türkiye, said the AVIC International will "actively promote land energy storage and ship energy storage in Türkiye" to help its "green, low-carbon, and high-quality development."
Launched in 2012, Türkiye Innovation Week aims to bring together innovation-related stakeholders, such as senior executives from global and local companies, leaders of innovations and academicians, to exhibit and discuss innovative projects. ■