There were 141 externally funded projects in 2022 with a total budget of 302.8 Million TL. 2 ERC Project (80.4 Million TL), 1 EIC (32.2 Million TL), 1 Twinning (25 Million TL), 5 Cooperation Projects (13.1 Million TL), 3 Erasmus projects (8 Million TL) 2 ERC PoC Projects (8 Million TL), 11 TÜBİTAK 2247 projects (24 Million TL), 2 Marie Curie Projects (6.6 Million TL), are the most significant additions to the external funding portfolio. Between January-April 2023, 24 projects have been funded with a present value of 154.7 Million TL. As of April 2023, the total number of ongoing projects is 307 with a present value of 919.6 Million TL.

At end of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme of Koç University is the most successful organization in Turkey (with 51 projects with a total European budget contribution of 23.1 Million EUR). Koç University received  27 of the 47 ERC awards received in Turkey since 2012. 8 of these awards are ERC Proof of Concept grants awarded to active ERC grant holders for the commercialization of the technologies researched.

As of December 2022, Koç University researchers have been awarded 16 projects, totalling university contributions about 14.9M €, under Horizon Europe. Our first Horizon Europe grant agreement (a coordinatorship under EIC Transition Challenges 2021) was signed on 26.03.2022. So far KU has participated in 122 Horizon Europe proposals, with 41 of them still under evaluation.

Prof. Sedat Nizamoğlu is now among Türkiye’s first two researchers who have received two ERC grants (STG-2014 and COG-2021), both hosted at KU.

Assoc. Prof. Elif Nur Fırat Karalar is now Türkiye’s first woman researcher who has received two ERC grants (STG-2015 and STG-2022), both hosted at KU.

Following the Novermber 2022 funding decisions of 4 new ERC Starting Grant projects (PIs (Assoc. Prof. Elif Nur Fırat Karalar, Asst. Prof. Barış Yıldız, Assoc. Prof. Selim Erdem Aytaç, Dr. Erkan Aydın), Koç University has received a total of 7 new ERC projects (3 POC, 4 STG) in 2022.