The 1515 Program applies an integrated perspective that extends beyond a consideration of the initial, establishment phase of the R&D laboratory. We realize that R&D laboratories flourish with long-term commitments. For this reason, the support of the 1515 Program extends to the phase of sustaining the activities of R&D laboratories in the long-run.
The 1515 Program offers an entirely grant-based financial model to cover up to 75% (for personnel expenditures, in some cases up to 100%) of the operating expenses of the R&D laboratory in Turkey with up to 10 million TRY for each calendar year for a duration of at most 10 years.
The coverage of the grant support consists of the following items:
- Personnel Costs
- Consultancy and Education Fees
- General Operating Costs
For eligibility to have personnel costs covered in the total grant amount, at least 50% of the personnel must hold Turkish citizenship and at least 1/3 should have a doctoral degree.
The presence of the R&D laboratory in Turkey will further open the possibility of benefiting from any one of TUBITAK’s other grant-based mechanisms, which are over 50 support mechanisms in total. These mechanisms, including call-based programs in areas of priority, are open for the application of all research entities in Turkey.
In addition to the grant that is provided for the budget under the relevant R&D support programs, the R&D laboratory will quality to receive a “Project Incentive Premium” for each R&D project.
In order to benefit from the 1515 Program, all that your company needs to submit to TUBITAK is a “Letter of Intent”. Provided that the letter of intent is approved, the Aplication Form should be presented. These documents should describe the qualities of the proposed R&D laboratory in being provided with grant based support for undertaking frontier R&D activities in Turkey.
The program is designed to “facilitate” the process of allowing leading firms to undertake frontier R&D activities in their laboratories in Turkey. The basic expectations after a positive evaluation is that the R&D laboratory puts into place a research plan to realize the following:
- Expand the boundaries of existing scientific understanding,
- Bring new scientific understanding to natural phenomena,
- Conduct research activities that are directed to providing solutions to existing scientific challenges or those that are probabilistic in the future,
- Conduct research that have the potential to influence new, emerging technological trends,
- Perform basic and/or applied research for “proof of concept”activities and/or those that are directed to the establishment of new scientific frameworks.
Funded Laboratories:
Ericsson Research Turkey Lab- Ericsson Araştırma Geliştirme ve Bilişim Hiz. A.Ş.
IMPET Frontier R&D Laboratory- TUSAŞ Türk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayii A.Ş.
Sustainable Propulsion and Power Technologies Laboratory -General Electric Marmara Technology Center Mühendislik Hizmetleri
Avionics Cyber Security Laboratory –ASELSAN