Türkiye's 500 Companies Spent TRY 257.9 Billion on R&D

The Türkiye R&D 500 Research, conducted by Turkishtime for the 13th time this year, has been announced. According to the research, the 500 companies in Türkiye that made the highest R&D expenditures carried out a total of TRY 257 billion 875 million in R&D investment in 2025. TUSAŞ ranked first with TRY 65.2 billion in spending, followed by ASELSAN and ROKETSAN.

The Türkiye R&D 500 Research, which offers important indicators regarding Türkiye's R&D and innovation ecosystem, has been announced for the 13th time this year. Prepared by Turkishtime, the research presents data on companies' R&D expenditures, number of R&D personnel, patent, utility model, design registration and trademark performance, as well as data on R&D and Design Centers.

The total R&D expenditure realized in 2025 by the 500 companies whose data were analyzed within the scope of the research amounted to TRY 257 billion 875 million 205 thousand. The research also evaluated companies' planned R&D expenditures for 2026, the number of personnel working at R&D centers, and intellectual property performance.

Defense industry stands out in R&D investments
In the 2025 R&D expenditure ranking, the weight of the defense and aerospace industry drew attention. TUSAŞ ranked first on the list with R&D expenditure of TRY 65 billion 207 million 978 thousand 740. ASELSAN ranked second with TRY 48 billion 182 million 526 thousand 55, while ROKETSAN ranked third with TRY 21 billion 409 million 818 thousand 299.

HAVELSAN ranked fourth with TRY 9 billion 540 million 715 thousand 484, while Ford Otomotiv ranked fifth with TRY 8 billion 300 million 55 thousand. The total R&D expenditure of the top five companies constituted 59.19 percent of the total expenditure of the 500 companies included in the research.

Further down the list, TUSAŞ Motor Sanayii (TEI) ranked sixth with TRY 6 billion 41 million 202 thousand 695, Arçelik ranked seventh with TRY 4 billion 578 million 549 thousand 904, Türk Telekom ranked eighth with TRY 3 billion 230 million 86 thousand, Mercedes-Benz Türk ranked ninth with TRY 3 billion 179 million 957 thousand 606, and MAN Türkiye ranked tenth with TRY 3 billion 93 million 401 thousand 413.

TRY 843.9 billion in exports from R&D products
One of the headings created for the first time this year in the research was the ranking of the "Top 100 Companies with the Highest Exports from R&D Products."

The total export amount that companies declared to have obtained from products they developed as a result of R&D activities in 2023, 2024 and 2025 was realized as TRY 843.9 billion.

Oyak Renault topped the ranking with TRY 337.8 billion. ASELSAN ranked second with TRY 154.2 billion, while TUSAŞ ranked third with TRY 58.9 billion. The total exports of the top three companies stemming from R&D products reached TRY 550.8 billion, and this amount constituted 65.3 percent of the total exports of the top 100 companies.

The total exports of the top 10 companies stemming from R&D products was realized as TRY 653.4 billion. Thus, the top 10 companies realized 77.4 percent of the total exports of the top 100 companies.

In the top 10 ranking, Prometeon Turkey ranked fourth with TRY 22.6 billion, TürkTraktör ranked fifth with TRY 20.6 billion, ROKETSAN ranked sixth with TRY 15.6 billion, Sun Tekstil ranked seventh with TRY 12 billion, Anadolu Isuzu ranked eighth with TRY 11.7 billion, Siemens ranked ninth with TRY 10.5 billion, and World Medicine ranked tenth with TRY 9.6 billion.

Looking at the sectoral distribution, the automotive industry stood out with TRY 404.2 billion, while the defense and aerospace industry ranked second with TRY 245.1 billion. The two sectors constituted approximately 76.9 percent of the total exports stemming from R&D products of the top 100 companies.

Mercedes-Benz Türk leads in patents
According to the 2025 number of granted patents registered with TÜRKPATENT, Mercedes-Benz Türk ranked first with 105 patents. Tırsan Treyler ranked second with 98 patents, and ASELSAN ranked third with 82 patents.

TUSAŞ ranked fourth with 66 patents, while ROKETSAN ranked fifth with 42 patents. According to the research, the total number of registered patents of the top 10 companies was 527.

Pharmaceutical sector's weight in trademark registrations
When the trademark performance of the top 500 companies was examined, the weight of the pharmaceutical sector drew attention. Abdi İbrahim İlaç Sanayi ranked first with 163 trademarks, while ASELSAN with 128, World Medicine with 125, Sanovel with 122 and Ali Raif İlaç with 119 trademarks were in the top five.

It was observed that 66.08 percent of the top 10 companies' total of 967 trademarks belonged to companies in the pharmaceutical sector.

Furniture sector stands out in design registration
Among the companies that registered their designs in 2025, the weight of the furniture sector stood out. While the top 10 companies made a total of 1,341 design registrations, Doğanlar Mobilya ranked first with 328 registrations. Çilek Mobilya ranked second with 209 registrations, while Yataş also ranked among the top 10 companies.

The total design registrations of Doğanlar Mobilya, Çilek Mobilya and Yataş reached 667. These three companies constituted 49.74 percent of the total design registrations made by the top 10 companies.

TUSAŞ at the top in utility models
In utility model registrations, TUSAŞ ranked first with 43 registrations. The company was followed by MAN Türkiye with 38 utility models and ASELSAN with 35 utility models.

The total number of utility model registrations of the top 10 companies was 182, while MAN Türkiye, Koluman Otomotiv, TürkTraktör and Oyak Renault from the automotive sector realized 37.36 percent of the registrations in the top 10 with a total of 68 utility models.

The total of 116 utility models of the top three companies constituted 63.74 percent of the total utility model registrations of the top 10 companies.

86.5 percent of R&D employment is at defense and aerospace companies
Defense and aerospace companies also stood out in the number of personnel working at R&D centers in 2025.

The total R&D employment of ASELSAN, TUSAŞ, ROKETSAN, HAVELSAN and TEI was 22,071 people. This number corresponded to 86.51 percent of the top 10 companies' total R&D employment of 25,513 people.

ASELSAN ranked first with 9,691 R&D employees, while TUSAŞ with 5,100, ROKETSAN with 3,390, HAVELSAN with 2,169 and TEI with 1,721 R&D employees formed the top five.

The weight of defense and aerospace companies was also seen in female R&D employment. While the total number of female employees at the R&D centers of the top 10 companies was 6,065, ASELSAN ranked first with 2,121 female employees. TUSAŞ with 1,190, ROKETSAN with 722, HAVELSAN with 535 and TEI with 305 female R&D employees were in the top five.

The total female R&D employment of the top five companies reached 4,873, and this number constituted approximately 80.35 percent of the top 10 companies' total female R&D employment.

ASELSAN ranks first in R&D projects
When the number of R&D projects of companies was examined, ASELSAN ranked first with 1,253 projects. World Medicine ranked second with 611 projects, while Deva Holding ranked third with 263 projects.

Arçelik ranked fourth with 200 projects, while the total number of R&D projects of the top 10 companies reached 3,235. It was notable that there were five pharmaceutical companies in the top 10, and the total number of projects of the pharmaceutical companies was 1,308.

FLO leads in design center expenditures
In design center expenditures, FLO Mağazacılık ranked first with TRY 434.8 million. The company was also at the top of the list in design center employment with 173 employees.

TUSAŞ Motor Sanayii ranked second with TRY 227.3 million, while BEYMEN with TRY 164.7 million, KOTON with TRY 132.9 million and Ay Marka with TRY 123.2 million in design center expenditure were in the top five.

Kontrolmatik Teknoloji ranked sixth with TRY 103.9 million, Boyner Büyük Mağazacılık ranked seventh with TRY 96.8 million, Kiğılı Giyim ranked eighth with TRY 82.9 million, Dinex Egzoz ve Emisyon Teknolojileri ranked ninth with TRY 82.3 million, and Yataş ranked tenth with TRY 80.8 million.

The scope of the research is expanding
The Türkiye R&D 500 Research continues to expand its focus on Design Centers, which was included last year, this year as well. The expenditure and employment data of Design Centers approved by the Ministry of Industry and Technology are evaluated within the scope of the research.

The Top 100 Companies with the Highest Exports from R&D Products list, prepared for the first time this year, presents a new indicator aimed at measuring the conversion of R&D activities into exports.

The research, which has been conducted for 13 years, presents a comprehensive view of Türkiye's innovation and high-technology ecosystem by revealing R&D expenditures, human resources, patents, trademarks, utility models and design registrations, as well as the contribution of R&D products to exports.

The research also included companies that stood out in the ranking by climbing steps, such as Bimed Teknik Aletler with 208, Trex Dijital with 201, Mobiliva with 188, Endüstriyel Elektrik Elektronik with 173, Aymas Makina with 168, Sun Chemical with 153, IHI Dalgakıran Makina with 139, Sirena Marine with 137, Mamur Teknoloji with 130 and BVS Bülbüloğlu with 128.