Turkey to raise R&D spending

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Turkey aims to vastly boost its research and development spending, said Development Minister Cevdet Yılmaz during a ceremony to mark a protocol between two ministries and the country’s scientific institution.

“Turkey has targets for 2023,” said Yılmaz at the event yesterday. “One of them is to raise R&D expenditure to 3 percent of the national income.’’

The Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology and the Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Institution (TÜBİTAK) have signed a “Cooperation Protocol for the Supervision and Evaluation of the Competence of Higher Education Research Centers.” Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergün, Development Minister Yılmaz and TÜBİTAK President Yücel Altunbasak participated in the ceremony. Minister Yılmaz said many research centers have been founded under the auspices of higher education institutions, especially in the last decade.

“We believe that of this 3 percent [share of the GDP], 2 percent should come from the public sector and the remaining 1 point should come from the private sector,” he said.