Spending on Research and Development (R&D) increased by 19 percent in 2014 when compared to 2013, according to an announcement by the Istanbul regional directorate of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

According to the results of a survey, which was conducted at public institutions, foundation universities and commercial sectors on budgets and staff payments at state universities, the portion of the gross national product (GNP) reserved for R&D increased by 18.8 percent in 2014 when compared to the previous year's TL 17.5 billion ($5.7 billion).

The share of R&D spending of the GNP, which was 0.95 percent, increased to 1.01 percent in 2014. The commercial sector, consisting of private companies and government business enterprises, had the highest share of R&D expenditure - 49.8 percent - followed by higher education at 40.5 percent and the public sector at 9.7 percent.

The commercial sector's expenditure on R&D was TL 8.7 billion, and the production sector (Section C) had the highest share at 51.8 percent, followed by the Information and Communication sector (Section J) and the Occupational Scientific and Technical Activities sector (Section M).