Significant amendments have been introduced to the application, evaluation, monitoring, and completion processes of the Technology Initiative Program / Technology-Oriented Industry Initiative Program (the “Program”) through the Communiqué Amending the Communiqué on the Implementation Principles and Procedures of the Technology Initiative Program (the “Communiqué”), published in the Official Gazette dated 8 May 2026 and numbered 33247.
1. Expansion of the Definitions of Investment Project and Production-Oriented Investment Process
Under the Communiqué:
- The definition of “production-oriented investment process” has been revised to include not only activities carried out within the scope of investment incentive certificates, but also project activities conducted under the support programs of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (“KOSGEB”).
- The definition of “investment project” has been expanded to cover, in addition to activities under investment incentive certificates, projects including activities conducted under the support programs of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) and KOSGEB.
2. Further Detailing of the Application and Preliminary Evaluation Processes
The amendments provide further detail regarding the project evaluation criteria.
In particular, during the preliminary evaluation stage, project commissions will assess:
- whether the project has been prepared by taking into consideration comparable products and best practice examples,
- its compliance and consistency with project methodology,
- its alignment with the call plan, and
- whether there is any existing open investment incentive certificate relating to the same subject matter.
In addition:
- Investors may be requested to submit revisions in the event of missing documents or insufficient explanations,
- Investors may be granted a period of 5 to 15 days for such revisions, and
- The objection mechanism for applications excluded from evaluation has been preserved.
Furthermore, applications determined not to satisfy the conditions set forth under the Communiqué and/or the call plan may be excluded from evaluation by the General Directorate of Strategic Research and Productivity through the Program Portal and Registered Electronic Mail (KEP).
3. Regulations Regarding Project Stakeholders
Cooperation between the applicant and project stakeholders has become one of the evaluation scoring criteria.
Additionally, it has become possible to:
- grant support decisions subject to the condition that the project be carried out together with certain stakeholders, and
- request a reconciliation protocol and stakeholder declaration form.
4. Reorganization of the Monitoring and Completion Processes
Significant amendments have also been introduced regarding the monitoring and completion mechanisms applicable to the investment process.
In this context:
- Monitoring expertise reviews will be conducted once per year.
- The relevant project coordinator may participate in the monitoring and completion expertise processes.
- Investors are now required to submit a completion application within three months following the expiry of the investment period.
- If no application is submitted, the completion process may be initiated ex officio.
- The procedures regarding the removal of projects determined to be unsuccessful from the scope of the Program and the recovery of excess support elements provided have been further detailed.
In addition, under certain conditions, unsuccessful investments may also be transferred to other incentive programs.
