The government allocated almost TL 3.3 billion ($933.20 million), the lion's share of its spending on research and development (R&D) in 2016, to "general knowledge development activities," through its university funds.
Government spending on R&D increased by 21.6 percent year-on-year to TL 7.5 billion in 2016. It has decided to allocate TL 8.2 billion for 2017.
Meanwhile, the defense sector received the second largest R&D funding with TL 1.2 billion which is likely to increase to TL 1.7 billion this year.
The government also allocated TL 166 million and TL 27 million for the exploration of earth and space, respectively.