Two Pakistani middle school students, Asma Fatima and Inaya Khan, clinched first place in the Social Innovation category at Teknofest 2025, held in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Their project, the “Emotion Detector Gadget for Quadriplegic”, aims to assist individuals with speech paralysis in expressing their emotions. The duo, accompanied by their teacher Gohar Khursheed, received their award from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Teknofest, Türkiye’s premier aerospace and technology festival, attracted over 47,000 applicants from 22 countries. From this pool, 268 teams comprising 1,083 participants from six nations were selected as finalists.
Reflecting on their achievement, Inaya described the experience as “phenomenal”, highlighting the intense competition and the significance of their innovation for Pakistan’s youth. Teacher Gohar emphasized that their invention provides a means for linguistically paralyzed individuals to convey their feelings, underscoring the project’s potential impact.
