KUAR: Koç University- Arçelik Research Center for Creative Industries

We primarily aim to collect and create project ideas that may become products or visionary prototypes that are innovative and contribute to quality of life, within the scope of the topics we work on and the outputs we aim to produce. Koç University’s Research, Project Development and Technology Transfer Directorate (RPDTTD) provides us support in protecting the rights of idea owners and developing the ideas. To this end, we organize idea competitions that are evaluated by an international jury and accept submissions internationally. We also collect and examine ideas brought to us by individuals, teams and companies, in order to provide development support. We also run field studies and workshops with users to explore and understand yet-undiscovered design spaces and consumer demand. We bring experts, academics and researchers together with individuals, teams and companies operating in the creative industries or benefiting from its outcomes through trainings and workshops.

KUAR’s workspace is located within Koç University’s main campus in Sarıyer, İstanbul. Facilities that include workshops for fabricating electronics and mechanical components, IT resources, studios and equipment for audio/visual productions, user experience laboratories and exhibition spaces are available for use by researchers at KUAR. We collaborate with other departments and laboratories and integrate activities such as concept development, feasibility studies, putting together teams of talent, funding and commercializing ides, and technology transfer. Within KUAR we have experts and facilities for software development, hardware design, aesthetic integration and user experience evaluation.