Projects funded by providers such as the Czech Science Foundation (GACR), Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TACR) or the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MSMT) that have their own budget section in the state budget. Other providers include, for example, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Culture, or regional authorities. These are projects where the proposer (typically the Czech Science Foundation) sets the objective and methods, or more frequently, projects where the provider defines the objectives.

These are projects financed from foreign sources, most often from the budget of the European Union – European Research Area projects (e.g. Operational Programmes, Erasmus+ Programme, Horizon Europe), but also from local sources (Czech-Bavarian Higher Education Agency, EEA and Norway Grants, International Visegrad Fund...).
In the case of Operational Programmes, the conditions of the competition are formulated by the ministry, which administers the programme after approval by the European Commission. For other programs, such as Erasmus+ and especially Horizon Europe projects, Czech applicants enter more demanding conditions of international competitions, which makes it all the more valuable to obtain these foreign projects.

These are research activities commissioned by business entities. Businesses define a specific issue and ask the university to solve it for a reward. Logically, ŠAU most often engages with projects in cooperation with its founder, Škoda Auto a.s., but also cooperates with other organisations such as Scania CR s.r.o., Siemens or AutoSAP.

The aim of the Škoda Auto University Student Grant Competition is to support scientific projects of students of the Master's degree programme related to their education. Projects for the organization of a student scientific conference held to publish the results of student scientific projects at Škoda Auto University can also be supported.

Projects of the Internal Grant Agency (IGA) are financed from the support for the Long-term Conceptual Development of the Research Organization (DKRVO), provided by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. It is about supporting high-quality project plans that bring new knowledge in the areas of education provided by Škoda Auto University.