A total of ₺164 billion 376 million R&D expenditure was made in the manufacturing industry sector in Turkiye in the last 5 years. R&D expenditures of enterprises involved in high technology activities accelerated with the Covid-19 epidemic and increased by 5.4 times.
R&D expenditures have increased regularly in the last 5 years in the manufacturing industry, which is of great importance in Turkiye’s development and sustainable growth and accounts for 94.6% of total exports.
While a total of ₺14 billion 934 million 108 thousand R&D expenditure was made in the sector in 2018, this amount increased by 30% to ₺19 billion 426 million 553 thousand in 2019. The sector continues to develop during the Covid-19 period, which changed the production and consumption processes in the world, the sector allocated ₺22 billion 91 million 880 thousand for R&D expenditures in 2020, ₺35 billion 612 million 660 thousand in 2021, and ₺72 billion 311 million 260 thousand in 2022.
Thus, while R&D expenditures in the manufacturing industry increased 4.8 times in the 2018-2022 period, a total of ₺164 billion 376 million 463 thousand R&D expenditure was made in the sector.
High technology comes first in R&D
In the same period, when the enterprises carrying out R&D activities in the manufacturing industry were classified according to their technology levels, it was seen that the enterprises involved in high technology activities made the most expenditures. In 2018, the R&D expenditure of enterprises involved in high technology activities was ₺6 billion 582 million 650 thousand. R&D expenditures, which have increased steadily in the following years, reached ₺9 billion 57 million 194 thousand in 2019, ₺9 billion 799 million 263 thousand in 2020, ₺16 billion 496 million 651 thousand in 2021 and ₺35 billion 524 million 498 thousand in 2022.
Thus, R&D expenditures allocated to high technology in the 2018-2022 period amounted to ₺77 billion 460 million 258 thousand in total and increased 5.4 times.
Başkent University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Dr. Lecturer Aysegul Ak said in her evaluation that the manufacturing industry constitutes an important part of the national income due to its contribution to export revenues.
“It is important to support R&D expenditures with incentive mechanisms”
Stating that export income also maintains its importance in terms of foreign exchange earnings, Ak said, “Increasing the production capacity of the manufacturing industry, increasing its total efficiency and reducing production costs with the support of R&D activities directly accelerates economic development and supports the country’s production potential. It is known that R&D expenditures on high and medium-high technology products in the manufacturing industry will return with much higher productivity. Therefore, it is pleasing to see that the demand for increased R&D expenditures, which we have emphasized for years, has been realized.”
Ak stated that the increase in high-technology and medium-high-technology expenditure rates is an indication that value-added production has begun to reach the importance it deserves. “In the process where Artificial Intelligence technologies are talked about from Industry 4.0 and the world turns into an information society, it is important to support R&D expenditures with incentive mechanisms in order to be among the countries producing high technology.”
Source: Trthaber / Prepared by Irem Yildiz