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Türkiye's research and development expenditure climbed to $15.5 billion in 2024, capping a decade of growth that saw total spending reach $38.1 billion between 2015 and 2024, according to data released by the country's statistical office TurkStat.
The spending surge represents a nearly 30-fold increase from 2015, when Türkiye invested $540.9 million in R&D. Defense, aviation, and space technologies drove much of the expansion, particularly after 2017 when the Turkish Industry and Technology Ministry launched its National Technology Initiative strategy.
Türkiye's R&D investment as a share of gross domestic product rose from 0.9% in 2015 to 1.46% in 2024, when the nation's GDP stood just above $1 trillion. The ratio places Türkiye in the middle tier among developing economies seeking to strengthen their technological capabilities.
Private sector companies financed more than half of the research spending, while the state contributed 32.1%.
The shift toward high-technology development marked a turning point in Türkiye's industrial strategy. High-tech R&D spending jumped from $52.4 million in 2015 to $2.3 billion in 2024 — a more than 42-fold increase that coincided with the government's technology initiative launched in the late 2010s.
Medium-high technology sectors dominated R&D investment through 2017, but high-tech operations gained momentum afterward as national priorities shifted.
Within the manufacturing sector, high-tech companies accounted for 46.9% of the $5 billion in total R&D spending, followed by medium-tech operations at 40.2%. Medium-low and low-tech operations comprised 8.2% and 4.7% respectively.
The R&D workforce expanded dramatically, with the number of full-time equivalent employees more than doubling from 119,905 in 2015 to 370,473 in 2024. The total number of R&D workers increased by 193,568 over the same period.
Women accounted for 106,074 of Türkiye's R&D workers last year, representing 34.2% of the total — up from 31.4% in 2015, when 43,048 women worked in the sector.
Among R&D employees, 39.9% held a bachelor's degree, the data showed. Doctorate holders or those with equivalent degrees made up 30.6% of the workforce, while 20.3% had master's degrees. Workers with vocational university degrees accounted for 4.9%, and 4.4% held high school diplomas or lower educational qualifications.
Istanbul recorded the highest R&D spending last year, maintaining its position from 2015. Ankara ranked second, followed by the northwestern cities of Kocaeli, Sakarya, Duzce, Bolu, and Yalova.
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