On May 19th, the Turkish Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication visited DAI-Labor in Berlin and received briefing on the research activities of DAI-Labor, Connected Living and GT-ARC 
Mr. Lütfi Elvan, Turkish Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication, visited DAI-Labor at TU Berlin on May 19th – the high ranking state visit was welcomed by Prof. Dr. Sahin Albayrak, head of DAI-Labor.

The delegation included, besides representatives from the Turkish ministry, Dr. İsmail Demir, Turkish state secretary for Defense Industries, and the Turkish ambassador Hüseyin Avni Karslıoğlu. The management board members of Connected Living Dr. Heinrich Arnold, Head of Deutsche Telekom Laboratories and Senior Vice President of Telekom Innovation Laboratories, as well as Cafer Tosun, Senior Vice President of Strategic Research and Innovations of SAP AG, were also among the participants.

The program started with the presentation of DAI-Labor with its partners Connected Living and GT-ARC, where their projects and research activities were introduced to Minister Elvan and other guests. The Minister seemed particularly interested in LTE (Long Term Evolution) technologies in Germany and exchanged ideas with Prof. Albayrak and Dr. Arnold on potential strategies and options for LTE deployment in Turkey. The cybersecurity activities also received significant attention of Mr. Elvan and the delegate from the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries. Discussions followed up on securing government networks and devices in the context of the AuVeGoS project, jointly undertaken by DAI-Labor and GT-ARC. The current prototype of the AuVeGoS solution was then presented in the showroom of DAI-Labor along with many other project demonstrations, including the Home Control Center, Smart Kitchen Assistant, Smart Bike, and electro-mobility applications.

At the closing of the program, Minister Elvan stressed the importance of bridging research activities among the two nations, and noted that their support for GT-ARC Istanbul should be intensified.