SAHA EXPO 2022 Exhibition Completed Successfully

The 3rd SAHA EXPO Exhibition, organized for the first time in 2018 by the Defense and Aerospace Cluster (SAHA Istanbul), 90% of whose members are SMEs, with the intention of bringing together businesses that contribute or want to contribute to the defense industry as manufacturers/suppliers, was held with great success in 6 halls and over a total area of 60,000 sqm at the Istanbul Expo Center on October 25-28, 2022, with the participation and support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Industry and Technology, Ministry of Trade and Presidency of Defense Industries, under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye. 

At the SAHA EXPO 2022 Evaluation Meeting held on October 28, 2022, the last day of the exhibition, with the participation of SAHA Istanbul Chairman Haluk BAYRAKTAR and Secretary General İlhami KELEŞ, the statistics regarding the International Defense and Aerospace Industry Exhibition, which welcomed industry professionals from various countries and brought together the key platform manufacturers, suppliers, and businesses that want to participate as suppliers in these sectors, were shared with the general public. The press was invited to a breakfast press conference on November 7, 2022, where İlhami KELEŞ, Secretary General of SAHA Istanbul, provided a general assessment of the exhibition—which was staged for the third time this year—and discussed the outputs of SAHA EXPO 2022.

Figures from the SAHA EXPO 2022 Exhibition

An international platform where the growth in Türkiye's domestic production potential and independent production power are displayed, SAHA EXPO 2022 attracted a total of 957 businesses, including 390 foreign companies from 57 countries and 567 Turkish companies. The exhibition included 281 product launches and project presentations from both domestic and international businesses, and it was attended by 268 official delegations and 112 business delegations.

SAHA EXPO 2022 Exhibition, whose official opening ceremony was attended by Abdulhamid DIBEYBE, Prime Minister of Libya under the Government of National Unity, hosted Ben WALLACE, UK Defense Secretary, on the second day. Secretary WALLACE, who visited the SAHA EXPO 2022 together with Hulusi AKAR, Minister of National Defense, received information about the products on display from senior executives at the company booths they visited. The SAHA EXPO 2022 Exhibition, which was only available to professionals for the first three days, was open to the general public on day four and generated a lot of interest. SAHA EXPO 2022 International Defense and Aerospace Exhibition, which was visited by 78,643 visitors in total, offered small businesses and Start-Up companies as well as large companies the opportunity to introduce themselves and their products, and 15 Entrepreneur (Start-Up) companies, which were supported as part of the SAHA Initiative Project and reached a certain level stage, introduced themselves and their products with presentations in a special area designated for them in the foyer area.

More than 18,000 B2B, B2G and G2G meetings were held with the infrastructure provided by the SAHA MATCH application, an artificially intelligent app specifically developed to match the needs and capabilities of participating companies in order to increase potential partnerships as well as business development and investment opportunities during the exhibition, which hosted a total of 12 international panel discussions with the participation of three keynote speakers. A total of 114 agreements were signed during the exhibition, at least 60% of which were for exports. The financial value of the business connections and contracts signed exceeded USD 1 billion.

Following the end of the physical session of SAHA EXPO 2022, which was designed in a hybrid format like the previous show, the Metaverse SAHA EXPO started on November 1. The three-month-long Metaverse SAHA EXPO will be accessible to everyone on the XperExpo platform from November 1, 2022, until February 1, 2023. All businesses who had booths at the physical show are eligible to participate for free in the Metaverse exhibition as well. Businesspeople from all around the world who could not attend the physical show will be able to reach participating businesses and communicate with their own avatars in the Metaverse thanks to the Metaverse exhibition. The Metaverse exhibition also includes online interview (video interview) rooms, therefore companies will be able to hold B2B meetings in the virtual world. The Metaverse exhibition has all the conveniences that the virtual world offers, including digital catalogs, videos for product promotion, and exchanging virtual business cards.

SAHA EXPO 2022 Evaluation Meeting

Speaking at the SAHA EXPO 2022 Evaluation Meeting held on October 28, 2022, during the exhibition, Haluk BAYRAKTAR, Chairman of the Board of SAHA Istanbul, thanked the press members attending the show for their support in promoting SAHA EXPO 2022 to the public.

Emphasizing that SAHA Istanbul is Türkiye's largest industrial cluster in the field of defense, aerospace, and space, BAYRAKTAR stated that SAHA Istanbul organized the 3rd SAHA EXPO Exhibition this year, and said, "We had a very fruitful, highly effective, and interactive exhibition with significant participation."

BAYRAKTAR briefly mentioned the following in his speech:

SAHA Istanbul currently consists of 876 members and 24 universities. This year, 567 domestic companies attended the event. Additionally, the expo featured 390 international businesses from 57 countries. Three years ago, SAHA EXPO was held over an area of 10,000 sqm. This year's SAHA EXPO was held on a 60,000 square meter area. There were 112 business delegations and 268 official delegations. On day one, as you know, Mr. DIBEYBE, the Prime Minister of Libya, with whom we have a 500-year historical relationship, personally came here to participate in the SAHA EXPO 2022. He observed all Turkish companies and Türkiye's rising defense industry power. On day two of the exhibition, Ben WALLACE, the UK Secretary of Defense, came to Türkiye to visit this exhibition. He personally held meetings with the Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine and the Ministers from other countries during the exhibition. He expressed Türkiye's rising power in the defense industry also to you. Additionally, dozens of domestic products and technologies were showcased for the first time at the exhibition. For example, many different sub-technologies were displayed here, ranging from the first indigenous and national turbofan engine developed for KIZILELMA to Unmanned Ground Vehicles and Unmanned Surface Vehicle Systems. 114 agreements in the fields of defense, aerospace, and space were inked at the expo, with a combined value of more than USD 1 billion. More than 60% of these agreements are export oriented. As a result, SAHA EXPO has demonstrated a significant economic effect. Every year, there is a growing amount of interest in SAHA EXPO. Instead of 60,000 sqm, we want to stage this show in October 2024 over 80,000 sqm. I would like to talk briefly about the number of participants. Our exhibition was open to professionals for the first three days, and approximately 40,000 professionals participated in the exhibition during the first three days. On day four, today, the exhibition is accessible to the public. We now anticipate that around 40,000 citizens visited the exhibition today as well. In other words, a total of 80,000 citizens participated in the show as visitors.”

In response to a question about the distribution of the 114 agreements signed during the exhibition by country, BAYRAKTAR said, "Although we did not specifically look at each of the 114 agreements, we can say that the Middle East and Africa are Türkiye's largest markets for its defense products, followed by Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Therefore, this is how we can divide it up." When asked if a new UAV export deal was signed during the show and what remarks foreign delegations who attended the exhibition made regarding domestic UAV systems, BAYRAKTAR responded as follows: 

The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems that we have created in Türkiye, particularly indigenously, are generating a lot of attention globally. Türkiye is the world's biggest exporter of UAV technology. Therefore, the results obtained from the recent operations where our technology is used have likewise been quite successful, drawing a lot of attention. In fact, the products developed in Türkiye in this field have become the most well-known brands in the world. There were new UAV export contracts inked as part of the exhibition. However, what we have really observed is that in order to have a strong supply chain, you must also be strong in sub-main projects, sub-systems, sub-technologies, material technologies, and all other types of technologies. With the national technology move that has been put forward in Türkiye over the past 15-20 years, we have sort of witnessed at SAHA EXPO how powerful this vision has become.”

A press member asked BAYRAKTAR about the participants interest in Unmanned Ground and Surface Vehicles which were also on display at SAHA EXPO 2022 for the first time in addition to UAVs, BAYRAKTAR responded as follows: “Türkiye has lately made significant advancements in Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) technology, and there are many different technological platforms. These also have a great deal of interest. There are many companies attending the exhibition, not only in the field of UAVs, but also in the field of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs). There are a few companies here that have exported their UGV solutions to 15-20 countries. We witness such success stories in our country. These are also on display here.” 

Press Conference and Media Breakfast

At a press conference and media breakfast on November 7, 2022, SAHA EXPO Secretary General İhami KELEŞ welcomed the media and emphasized that SAHA Istanbul, which hosted SAHA EXPO 2022, is the largest defense and aerospace cluster in Türkiye and Europe with 876 companies and 24 universities. 

He stated that the number of members is 876 for now, because they could not make a new Board of Directors Meeting due to the expo, and no decision could be taken on the acceptance of the memberships of the companies whose applications were pending. 

Pointing out that SAHA EXPO 2022 was organized not by a fair organization company, but by a non-profit industry cluster with the goal of developing the national defense industry, KELEŞ said, "Instead of focusing on making a profit, SAHA EXPO puts the country and nation first. SAHA EXPO had a strong aura since it was created with dedication, hard work, and intellect." Noting that 38,000 of the 78,643 visitors who visited SAHA EXPO 2022 International Defense and Aerospace Exhibition were professional visitors hosted in the first three days of the Exhibition, KELEŞ said that they hosted little over 40,000 visitors on the public day. "The next exhibition will now be one day longer; specifically, it will now run until Saturday. The public day will also be moved to Saturday. Because the firms did not have enough time to meet with the delegations, we are extending the number of days for professional participants. There were too many delegations, and they needed to have meetings with far too many companies."

KELEŞ reported that 9,080 news with a total advertising value of TRY 160 million, including 763 in print media, 586 in visual media, and 7,731 in online media, have been presented to the public for SAHA EXPO 2022, which has gained a great deal of public interest thanks to the participation of national and international delegations, senior officials, and industrialists from all levels:

“We are grateful for the belief and support shown to SAHA EXPO from the outset by our esteemed press members, who have a key role in adding value to the efforts made by bringing the success of our exhibition to the public. The press is one of the pillars of SAHA Istanbul's power. Conflicts are handled today using a strategy known as ‘soft power.’ In various sectors, it may steer conflicts and change industries, societies, and even the states. In our opinion, the press plays a crucial role in this regard. I want to thank you all once again and hope to see you at our upcoming show, which will be held at the Istanbul Expo Center from October 22 to 26, 2024.”

SAHA EXPO Daily was Prepared by Defence Turkey Magazine

As part of the SAHA EXPO 2022 International Defense and Aerospace Exhibition, which was organized by SAHA Istanbul successfully at the Istanbul Expo Center on 25-28 October 2022, the “SAHA EXPO Daily” magazine, published in English and distributed free of charge for the first three days, was prepared by Defence Turkey Magazine on behalf of SAHA Istanbul.

The 3,000 copies of SAHA EXPO Daily magazine were distributed to exhibitors, official delegations, and business delegations in print form. They were also distributed digitally to more than 22,000 defense and aerospace officials from more than 70 countries via SAHA EXPO digital platforms and all of Defence Turkey's social media platforms. Both SAHA Istanbul administration and EXPO participants and visitors showed significant interest in the SAHA EXPO Daily magazine