Although Covid-19, which has affected the whole world regardless of geography, has recorded 2020 as a lost period in many areas of life, "R&D 250, Turkey's Highest R&D Spending," prepared by Turkishtime with great devotion and meticulousness. Companies” research revealed that companies do not stop in their R&D studies.
Economy and Business Portal Turkishtime, with its eighth “Turkey R&D Research” this year, reveals where Turkey has reached in its journey of added value, while 500 companies participating in the research increased their R&D expenditure to 16 billion 995 million TL. While serious steps have been taken regarding R&D studies in Turkey in recent years, the “Turkey R&D 2013 Research” initiated by the Economy and Business Portal Turkishtime in 250 was one of the most important moves serving this purpose. As it enters its eighth year, the research, in which thousands of companies have been involved, added another stone to the vision of “creating the R&D memory in Turkey”. Despite the decline in the graph of the Turkish economy in 2020, which was a year in the shadow of the pandemic, the 500 companies that were the subject of the research showed a stronger performance in R&D compared to 2019. As in the previous year, the notifications made by companies with R&D centers approved by the Ministry of Industry and Technology, within the scope of the R&D 250 research, and the information given by the top 500 companies in Turkey's export ranking, and the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) of Borsa Istanbul companies. ) based on the statements they made, the tradition was still intact and the weight of the defense industry was deeply felt once again.
Defense industry companies, which are the locomotive of the total growth in R&D, constituted 50 percent of the companies in the top 60,7. Although this rate was 2019% in 62,6, the leadership of the defense industry remained intact. Again, looking at the top 50, the defense industry; Automotive industry followed with 15,9 percent, white goods and consumer electronics with 6,4 percent.
In the light of 2020 data of companies, ASELSAN, one of the important players of the defense industry, took the leadership seat this year in the research that draws attention to the importance of investment in R&D. The company, which took over the flag from TUSAŞ Türk Aviation and Space Industry Inc., which was the winner of the previous year, made a significant contribution to Turkey's R&D ecosystem with its R&D expenditure of 2020 billion 3 million TL in 356.
The leading name of 2019, TUSAŞ Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. While it was placed in the second place of the list in 2020, the company allocated 2 billion 649 million TL to R&D in the said period.
Tofaş, which was in the eighth place with 2019 million 355 thousand TL in the previous research, in which 167 data were transferred, moved up five places to third place. The company, which allocated 2020 million 575 thousand TL to R&D in 82, thus experienced a serious leap with 61,9% growth compared to the previous year. Roketsan, which was in the third place in the previous research, ranked fourth in the list this year. The company, which realized its R&D expenditure amount of 2019 million 525 thousand TL in 252 as 2020 million 488 thousand TL in 816, saw a 6,9% decrease in its R&D investments compared to the previous year.
The budget allocated to R&D in 2020 by TUSAŞ Motor Sanayii A.Ş. (TEI), which spent 458 million 108 thousand TL in R&D in 2019; 313 million 618 thousand TL. TEI TUSAŞ rose from eighth to fifth place in the R&D ranking with an increase of 46,1 percent between the two years. TEI TUSAŞ in the top 10 of the list, respectively; Turkcell Teknoloji (443 million 927 thousand TL), Ford (441 million 975 thousand TL), Havelsan (433 million 994 thousand TL), Vestel (335 million 131 thousand TL) and Arçelik (318 million 211 thousand) followed.
The defense industry, which has significantly increased its share in R&D over the past years, has become the locomotive of the total growth in R&D this year. When the ratios of the total R&D investments of the companies in the top 50 R&D on a sector basis to the total of the top 50 companies are examined; It is seen that the defense industry has a very high rate of 60,7 percent. The numbers tell us; It shows that only five important companies such as Aselsan, TUSAŞ, Roketsan, TUSAŞ TEI and Havelsan made the very high part of the investments of the first 50 companies, respectively, between 2017 and 2020, 50,8 percent, 49,7 percent, 58,2 percent and 55,9 percent. At this point, the defense industry showed that R&D investments indirectly contributed to the development of technology and innovation culture.
The automotive industry with 50 percent and white goods and consumer electronics companies with 15,9 percent took place in the first 6,4 sectors, in which the defense industry ranks first.
After the defense industry, which is the locomotive of R&D, the second sector that made its weight felt in this field was the automotive and automotive sub-industry. Three important powers in the automotive industry (Tofaş, Ford, Otosan) played a driving role in the R&D figures of the automotive industry with their projects. Ranking third in the general ranking with its R&D investment of 2020 million 575 thousand TL in 82, Tofaş was at the top of the list in its own sector. Increasing its R&D budget by 2019%, which was 355 million 167 thousand TL in 61,9, the company's R&D figure for 2021 is 883 million TL.
Looking at the 2020 figures, experts point out that much higher rates of female engineers can be employed in R&D centers. While Deva Holding has the highest rate of female employees in the R&D department with 60,3 percent, Logo Yazilim (43,4 percent) and Turkcell Technology (36,0 percent) seem to have good female employment rates. At this point, experts state that there are many social entrepreneurship opportunities that other companies can do in this field.
In the ranking of the top 50, the pharmaceutical industry, which has a share of 2,9 percent from R&D investments, is Deva Holding with 117 million 544 thousand TL, followed by; Turgut İlaç, Nobel İlaç, Abdi İbrahim, Sanofi and World Medicine followed suit. While the investments of the first 50 companies in the pharmaceutical sector increased to 2020 million TL in 377,9, with the works of Deva İlaç, which has the largest investment, within DEVAR-GE; The R&D investments of Turgut İlaç, Nobel İlaç, Abdi İbrahim and Sanofi were decisive.
Experts point out that pharmaceuticals (more than 15 percent) is at the top of the sector with the highest ratio of R&D investments to turnover in the world, and underline that this ratio is over 30 percent in biotechnology and biopharma.
While experts state that vaccine and treatment R&D studies against COVID-19 cause serious different directions in the sector's 2020 investments, it is stated that many countries are now focusing on the field of biotechnology, which includes future technologies such as DNA/RNA synthesis, genetics, cell and tissue engineering. Experts underline that although Turkey is late for high-tech devices such as MR and tomography, the medical device industry, whose importance has been recognized during the pandemic, is an R&D field with a high potential in order to reduce foreign dependency and protect human health.
The average R&D expenditure of the first 250 companies in the list corresponds to approximately 64 million liras. Considering the Turkish economy, it is stated that this rate is extremely low. “64 million lira is not the average of all companies in Turkey, it is the average of 250 institutions that spend the most on R&D. When evaluated from this perspective, the figures are not yet at a satisfactory level," the experts also emphasize that the first two companies, Aselsan and TUSAŞ Aerospace Industry Inc., realized approximately 250 billion liras of R&D expenditures of 16 companies, which approached 6 billion liras.
While the total number of projects of the companies in the top 100 of the list is 6384, Aselsan is again at the top of the list. Aselsan, which is at the top of the list with 749 projects (this number was 2019 in 620); Deva Holding (296), World Medicine (220), Abdi İbrahim (153), Dyo Boya (136), Roketsan (114), Hidromek (112), Polifarma (110), and Argis (105) are in the top 10 in this category. is located in.
The results of the research indicate that there are no companies among the top 250 companies that did not receive a patent in 2020. All companies have registered at least two patents. Expressing that this is a good development, the experts also underline that the average of 2.68 companies in the number of patents is low. While only IBM signed 2020 patents in 9435, Samsung registered 8539, LG 5112, Apple 2840, Amazon 2373, Panasonic 1929 patents.
Turkcell, which was at the top of the list in this category with the number of 2019 patents obtained in the R&D center in 142, did not lose its leadership seat in 2020. While the company ranked first with 177 patents, automotive giant Tofaş followed with 45 patents. In the list where Tırsan is ranked third with 34 patents; BSH 31, Türk Traktör 24, Bosh 23, Turaş Gaz 22, Anadolu Isuzu 21, Otokar 19, Netaş 19 were the names that took the first place in the list with the number of patents.
Companies that closed 2020 with a strong performance also planned their R&D budgets for 2021. According to the research report, the company predicting that it will spend the most on R&D in 2021; Aselsan seems to be the leader of 2020. The planned R&D expenditure of the company for 2021 is 3 billion 860 million TL. TUSAŞ Türk Aviation and Space Industry Inc. purchased Aselsan with 3 billion 320 million TL. While following, TUSAŞ Motor Sanayii A.Ş. (TEI) ranks third in the list with 1 billion 845 million TL. The companies that follow TUSAŞ Motor Sanayii A.Ş. (TEI) in the list and are in the top 10 are; Tofaş (883 million TL), Roketsan (848 million 873 thousand TL), Havelsan (766 million 86 thousand TL), Otokar (338 million 523 thousand TL), Siemens (300 million 468 thousand TL), Logo Yazilim (288 million 900 thousand TL) TL), FNSS Defense Systems (263 million TL).
R&D research results for 2020 show that companies' R&D expenditures are increasing. The continuation of the growth trend despite the pandemic raises hopes for the future of R&D, while experts point out that it is not at the desired level. When we look at the brands with the highest R&D investment in the world; We see that Samsung's R&D investment alone is 15 billion dollars, and Google's R&D and innovation expenditures are about 15 billion dollars alone. These figures indicate to us that we have a long road ahead of us in this field.
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