A New Era Has Begun in Support Programs to Increase the R&d and Innovation Capacity of SM Es

A new era has begun in support programs aimed at increasing the R&D and innovation capacity of SM Es. Within the scope of the Industrial R&D Support Program, a grant of up to 20 million lira will be provided per project. According to the information obtained from TÜBİTAK, the second call for 2026 of the "European Partnership for Innovative SM Es / Eurostars-3 Programme" has been opened in order to increase the participation of organizations in Türkiye in international research and innovation collaborations.

The program provides support to innovative SM Es to increase their R&D, innovation capacity and productivity. Within the scope of the call, projects aimed at developing new products, improving existing products, increasing quality and standards, creating new techniques that will reduce costs and designing production technologies are expected. With the call, support will be given to SM Es located in Türkiye who want to apply with international R&D and innovation projects.

It is important to develop a product, process or service that can be put on the market in a short time, through international R&D projects involving organizations from at least two Eurostars member countries, with the coordinator being an SME. The program envisages the creation of specialized R&D and innovation consortiums under the leadership of the private sector, with the contribution of universities and public institutions. Thus, it is aimed for organizations in Türkiye to access international technology know-how, to accelerate technology transfer and to transform the acquired knowledge and experience into original technologies.

It is also aimed to increase access to international markets and exports with the products to be developed, and to contribute to reducing import dependency and the current account deficit. Capital companies established in Türkiye, higher education institutions, public research centers and institutes, training and research hospitals and research infrastructures can apply to the call. If there is more than one organization from Türkiye in the same international project, Turkish partners will apply for a single national preliminary project and second stage project together, not separately.

In the call with a total budget of 4 million euros, the budget of each Turkish project partner cannot exceed 600 thousand euros. In case of joint application by more than one institution or organization from Türkiye, the total project budget can be maximum 850 thousand euros. The budget share of institutions that are not capital companies cannot exceed 50 percent of the total project budget and 300 thousand euros.

The duration of the projects will be a maximum of 36 months. The support rate will be 60 percent for large-scale organizations and 75 percent for SM Es. Public administrations, special budget administrations, foundation universities, training and research hospitals, and public research centers and institutes can be supported up to 100 percent.

International applications for the call will end on September 10. National preliminary project applications will also be completed on September 24. Projects accepted in international evaluation will not be re-evaluated by national referees. On the other hand, applications have started to be received within the scope of the Industrial R&D Support and SME R&D Startup Support programs carried out by TÜBİTAK Technology and Innovation Support Programs Directorate (TEYDEB). With the programs, R&D and innovation projects will be supported for the design and development of new products in all sectors and technology fields, the improvement of existing products, and the creation of new techniques and production technologies that will increase product quality or reduce costs.

Within the scope of the Industrial R&D Support Program, it is aimed to increase the capacity of SM Es to develop products for international markets, acquire competitive domestic technologies in areas where they are dependent on abroad, and create technological products with strong commercialization potential. With the SME R&D Startup Support Program, it is aimed for SM Es, especially those at the initial stage of their R&D activities, to gain systematic project execution competence, to spread the R&D and innovation culture in enterprises, and to increase localization and technological competitiveness. The support rate to be applied within the scope of the Industrial R&D Support Program in the new period will be determined gradually according to the number of supported projects of the company.