Stanford University - UIF Silicon Valley Meetup 2022

 The Silicon Valley Meetup, the first face-to-face meeting of the University Innovation Fellow program, organized by Stanford University d.school after the pandemic, was held on the Stanford University campus in March 2022. In addition to the participation of Boğaziçi University fellows Haluk Ziya Tercan, Zişan Özdemir and Arda Ulutürk, Asst. Prof. Oğuzhan Aygören and Assoc. Prof. Burcu Rodopman also physically attended the meeting.

 Fellow students and faculty members from more than ten countries and different universities attended the three-day training, panels, and experience areas at the meetup. In the meetup, where the main purpose was to teach "leading change", opportunities were created to get to know technologies in different sectors, examine the Stanford University campus, develop leadership skills, empathize and work together. In addition to being inspired by the Stanford University ecosystem, our students had the opportunity to tour the Silicon Valley environment and make company visits.

  Working with Bright for years, our students Haluk Ziya Tercan, Zişan Özdemir, and Arda Ulutürk, who are important examples of Bright's philosophy, did not see the problems they faced as unsolvable and managed to finance the visit to Silicon Valley meetup with methods such as crowdfunding and direct access to individuals living in the region.

Through the eyes of our students:

“The Silicon Valley meetup was one of the turning points for me. As a result of the training we received, I experienced the excitement of being able to lead the change. In addition, I gained self-confidence with the inspiration of seeing Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and most importantly, Stanford University. Although I made a lot of benefits, the most important thing was that I realized that we are doing good work in Turkey and that we are not behind anyone. Although our opportunities are less than in other countries, we are highly motivated and work well. We have no reason to distrust ourselves. Like an entrepreneur, we will try harder to make the best use of our opportunities, and we will inspire others to do so.”

- Haluk Ziya Tercan

You can also access the presentation made by Bright Center Director Oğuzhan Aygören in the 2022 UIF program via the QR code below.

UIF Silicon Valley Meetup news link at Bogazici News: