ANKARA - Turkish state institutions and private companies spent 4.4 billion YTL in aggregate for research & development (R&D) activities in 2006, according to Turkish Board of Statistics (TUIK). (1 USD equals 1.25 YTL)
Turkey's R&D spending makes up 0.76 percent of total gross domestic product (GDP).
2.25 billion of this spending, more than half of total amount, was made by universities, it was revealed in a report prepared by TUIK. Over 1 billion YTL of health care expenditures took the largest part in universities' R&D activities.
TUIK report also said 37 percent of R&D expenditure was made by private companies while 11.7 percent was spent by governmental institutions.
A total of 54,444 researchers and technicians took part in all R&D activities carried out in 2006, according to TUIK report.
(TÇ-MS)