TÜBİTAK’s 1711 Artificial Intelligence Ecosystem Call for the year 2026 is open. One of the call's five focus areas is directly Smart Education Technologies — an area reserved for companies that want to use artificial intelligence in corporate training, learning platforms, and assessment-evaluation.
This article is not an introduction to the call. It explains where a company wishing to apply to the call gets stuck the most: forming the consortium and choosing the right technology provider within that consortium.
First, the dates — and why looking at September 18th is misleading
| Stage | Date |
|---|---|
| Project application (PRODİS) | June 15 – September 18, 2026, 25:59 |
| Pre-registration deadline | September 14, 2026, 17:30 |
The truly critical date in the calendar is not September 18th, but September 14th. A project proposal cannot be submitted without completing pre-registration. Moreover, pre-registration is not just a matter of filling out a form: TÜBİTAK expects the consortium to meet with the TÜBİTAK Artificial Intelligence Institute before applying and prepare a Letter of Intent Form to submit as an annex to the project proposal.
In practice, this means: the consortium must be established, the parties must have agreed, and the main outlines of the project must be clear before September 14th. A company that starts looking for partners in the first week of September cannot make it to this call.
The main condition of the call: you cannot apply alone
This is what distinguishes 1711 from other TÜBİTAK programs. According to TÜBİTAK, companies needing artificial intelligence solutions must bring together these three parties:
- Client organization — the company that has the need and will use the solution in its own processes
- Technology provider — at least one company
- Research party — at least one university research laboratory/center or public research center/institute experienced in this field
In other words, the call supports not "a company with an artificial intelligence project," but a working trio. The party with the need, the developer, and the party providing academic depth must be at the same table.
This structure also explains why applications often fail due to not finding partners. The company with the need generally knows its need but lacks the technical side to turn it into an R&D project. The university side has depth but limited production and integration experience. The technology provider fills the gap in between.
What falls under Smart Education Technologies
The focus areas of the call are: Smart Manufacturing Systems, Smart Agriculture/Food and Livestock, Financial Technologies, Climate Change and Sustainability, and Smart Education Technologies.
Project designs that can be evaluated under the education heading focus on areas where institutions truly have needs today:
- Adaptive learning — systems that adjust content and difficulty according to the employee's level and past performance
- AI-supported assessment-evaluation — open-ended answer evaluation, competency mapping, measurement reliability
- Simulation and role-playing — AI taking on the opposing role and evaluating performance in scenarios such as sales meetings, management decisions, field safety
- Corporate knowledge assistants — training assistants that provide answers based on the company's own documents, citing sources
- Learning analytics — systems that can measure real behavioral change from training data
The common point is this: none of them are merely about calling a model. None of them work without being connected to the institution's data, existing learning management system, and authorization structure.
Five things to consider when choosing a technology provider
This is the most critical choice in the consortium, because that party carries both the technical risk and the deliverability of the project.
1. Does it have a system running live?
Presentations and prototypes are not enough. Developing a system that real users use, is maintained, and measured is a different experience. This is exactly what will emerge at the end of an R&D project.
2. Does it have integration experience?
Smart education projects are almost always connected to an existing learning management system, human resources system, or corporate identity infrastructure. A team that has not established these connections before will learn the riskiest part of the project for the first time in your project.
3. Does it know the measurement side?
The real challenge in an education project is not running the model, but measuring whether learning has occurred. A technical team that is not proficient in assessment-evaluation methodology will deliver a system that is claimed to work but cannot be proven.
4. Does the model work independently?
Architectures locked into a single provider lead to obsolescence within the project's duration. What generates value is not the model; it is the workflow, integration, user experience, corporate data, and evaluation infrastructure.
5. Can it discuss data and security aspects?
Personal Data Protection Law, role-based authorization, data isolation, record-keeping, and human oversight — in a corporate training system, these are not topics added later, but part of the design.
What needs to be prepared by September 14th
- Clarify the need. Which process, which measurable outcome. "Let's use artificial intelligence" is not a project definition.
- Form the consortium. Client organization, technology provider, research institution. All three must agree in writing.
- Meet with TÜBİTAK Artificial Intelligence Institute. The call explicitly expects this; it's not a step to be left until the last day.
- Prepare the Letter of Intent Form. It will be submitted as an annex to the project proposal.
- Complete pre-registration before September 14th, 17:30.
Where MediaRubic stands at this table
We are on the technology provider side in this call.
Corporate training technology has been our business for a long time: the entire production line, from scenario to video production, from software to SCORM, from gamification to simulation, and to assessment-evaluation platforms, is in-house. The systems we develop are not promotional demos — they run live, have users, and are maintained and measured.
If something is unclear when evaluating the five criteria above for your own team or prospective provider, let's talk. We can jointly define the consortium structure and project scope.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I apply to the 1711 call as a single company?
No. The call requires the establishment of a consortium consisting of at least one technology provider company and at least one university research laboratory/center or public research center/institute, in addition to the client organization.
When is the application deadline?
Project applications are accepted via PRODİS until September 18, 2026, 25:59 (UTC+3). However, pre-registration procedures must be completed by September 14, 2026, 17:30.
Which focus area is Smart Education Technologies?
It is the fifth of the call's five focus areas. The others are Smart Manufacturing Systems, Smart Agriculture/Food and Livestock, Financial Technologies, and Climate Change/Sustainability.
The date and condition information in this article has been taken from TÜBİTAK's official call announcement. Please check the current version of the call text before applying.
