Opening its doors on Aug. 28 of this year, the İEF saw close to 1.5 million visitors, while 1,003 local and foreign firms participated in Turkey's first and biggest international trade show. Sixty-one countries sent 150 delegations, including 11 ministers, to this year's fair, which opened with the theme of “Communication Technologies.” Ethiopia was the guest of honor at this year's İEF, which also featured a film and song festival.
The companies introduced thousands of products at the fair, and 15 new products hit the stands for the first time. World-famous carmakers Hyundai and Isuzu and also computer systems giant Microsoft offered visitors their latest products at their stands. Among the new products that received attention were the first PC game created in İzmir, a newly developed handset that enables deaf people to use cell phones, a surveillance computer system that keeps track of huge fleets and an amphibious jet ski. Meanwhile, İzmir Ekonomi Üniversitesi (İEÜ) announced at the fair that they will open a new department on computer game development. In addition to the permanent employees of the fair, an additional 320 cleaning staff, 450 security staff and 125 gate officers worked during the fair, with jobs ranging from translation services to concert organization and hosting services.
