R&D expenditure increases by 90 percent last year

ISTANBUL

Türkiye’s gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) rose from 198.7 billion Turkish Liras in 2022 to 377.5 billion liras last year, a 90 percent increase, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) on Nov. 6.

The share of GERD in the country’s GDP increased from 1.32 percent to 1.42 percent in 2023.

Financial and non-financial corporations had the largest share in R&D expenditures with 65.1 percent, followed by higher education with 30 percent.

The share of general government R&D expenditures, including R&D expenditures made by private non-profit sector, in total R&D expenditures was 4.9 percent, TÜİK said.

Among the R&D expenditures, personnel expenditures constituted the largest expenditure item with 52.5 percent, according to the latest data.

The number of R&D personnel was 290,850 last year with 65.4 percent employed in financial and non-financial corporations, followed by 31.4 percent in higher education and 3.1 percent in general government.

At 99,195, women constituted 34.1 percent of total R&D personnel, TÜİK data showed.

R&D expenditure in 2023 was the highest in Ankara with 29.7 percent. Istanbul came second at 28.9 percent, followed by the region covering the northwestern provinces of Kocaeli, Sakarya, Düzce, Bolu and Yalova at 10.6 percent.