ODTÜ Tasarım Fabrikası instructors Prof. Dr. Arzu Gönenç Sorguç and Dr. Serkan Alkan delivered a Design Thinking course to high school students within the scope of the ODTÜ Social Sciences Winter School. Throughout the course, students developed creative solutions to real-world problems using a human-centered approach; they had the opportunity to test and refine their ideas through prototyping. Conducted through both individual and team-based activities, the process strengthened students’ critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaborative production skills.

METU Design Factory and METUWIND (Center For Wind Energy Research) successfully completed the modeling and fabrication processes for wind tunnel testing through a collaborative effort. With an interdisciplinary approach, we continue to research, design, and produce together.

As an active member of the EEN Sector Group Cultural & Creative Industries and co-chair of the Study Group, we were delighted to host the EEN SG Cultural & Creative Industries Meeting 2025, alongside the METUCrea Matchmaking Event, bringing together creative professionals, innovators, researchers, and ecosystem actors from across Europe.The meeting also served as a dissemination platform for CoARA (Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment), where its principles, commitments, and ongoing activities were presented and discussed with key stakeholders from the cultural and creative industries.

A big thank you to all speakers, partners, and participants for making this event such a valuable and inspiring experience.

Looking forward to new collaborations ahead!

As METU Design Factory, we successfully completed a two-phase Design Thinking workshop series in collaboration with TUSAŞ, a leading company in the aerospace industry, on November 18–19 and 25–26. Conducted with two different groups, the workshops provided a highly productive and engaging environment centered on collaboration and shared learning.

Throughout the process, participants demonstrated strong motivation, open-mindedness, and active engagement, enabling an in-depth exploration of user-centered problem definition, rapid prototyping, and creative solution development. The outcomes highlighted the value of interdisciplinary collaboration and the potential of design thinking approaches within high-technology and aerospace-driven contexts.

We would like to thank the TUSAŞ team for their valuable contributions and collaboration throughout this inspiring and rewarding process.

As part of the Engineering Summer School organized by Middle East Technical University for high school students, the course titled “BIYOESIN 101: Nature-Inspired Designs” was successfully completed after an intensive and creative two-day educational program. Drawing inspiration from structures and systems in nature, the course introduced high school students to the innovative and inspiring world of engineering.

Held at the METU Design Factory under the coordination of Faculty of Architecture professor Prof. Dr. Arzu Gönenç Sorguç and the Design Factory team, the course allowed participants to explore nature-inspired design principles and apply them to develop creative solutions to engineering problems.

During the hands-on sessions, students developed their own designs based on claws, joints, bones, and skeletal systems found in nature. Using 3D printers, they turned their ideas into physical prototypes. At the end of the course, a competition was held among these designs under the theme of “maximum load-bearing capacity.” The competition provided both fun and educational moments.

The “BIYOESIN 101” course not only increased young participants’ interest in engineering and design but also helped them enhance their teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving skills.