In other words, 499 enterprises used biotechnology in their goods or services and/or carried out biotechnology Research and Development (R&D) activities.

The number of enterprises active in biotechnology was 363 in 2019. When the enterprises active in biotechnology using at least one biotechnology technique by size groups were examined; it was observed that 369 enterprises had 1-9 employees, 67 enterprises had 10-49 employees, 37 enterprises had 50-249 employees and 26 enterprises had 250 or more employees in 2020.

The most common biotechnology technique was DNA/RNA

In 2020, enterprises active in biotechnology were used mostly "DNA/RNA" technique. The number of enterprises using the "DNA/RNA" technique was seen to be 261. This was followed by "process biotechnology techniques" used by 155 enterprises and "cell and tissue culture and engineering" techniques used by 139 enterprises.

Human health was in the first place among biotechnology applications

According to the objectives of biotechnology activities; 41.3% of 499 enterprises engaged in biotechnology were used biotechnology for human health (other therapeutics, artificial substrates, diagnostics, and drug delivery technology, etc.) while 32.9% of them for non-GM agricultural biotechnology and 24.0% of them for human health (using rDNA technology) in 2020.

Number of enterprises having biotechnology products on the market was 302

While the number of enterprises having biotechnology products on the market was 211 in 2019, it increased to 302 in 2020. It was observed that 454 of the 499 enterprises that declared to be engaged in biotechnology activities have currently developed products that require the use of biotechnology, 426 have currently developed processes that require the use of biotechnology, and 415 were the enterprises that considered biotechnology at the center of enterprises' activities or strategies.

Biotechnology R&D expenditure was 417 million 560 thousand 618 TRY

Biotechnology R&D expenditure of enterprises active in biotechnology was 417 million 560 thousand 618 TRY in 2020. This was 324 million 462 thousand 31 TRY in 2019. While the share of biotechnology R&D expenditures in financial and non-financial sector R&D expenditures was 1.10% in 2019, this proportion was 1.17% in 2020.

The number of biotechnology employees was 2 753

The number of biotechnology employees was 2 753 in 2020. 47.7% of the employees in biotechnology activities were male and 52.3% were female employees. 16.2% of them were doctoral level or equivalent, 22.2% of them were master's level or equivalent, 36.4% of them were bachelor's level or equivalent, 7.3% of them were short-cycle tertiary education and 17.9% of them were secondary education and below. 2 228 personnel were employed in terms of full-time equivalent in 2020.

The most significant barrier to biotechnology R&D was access to capital

According to 499 enterprises active in biotechnology, the most significant barrier to biotechnology R&D activities was "access to capital" with 60.9%. This was followed by "access to skilled human resources" with 49.7% and "regulatory requirements" with 34.3%. While the barriers to commercializing biotechnology products were "access to international markets" with 57.5% and "regulatory requirements" with 53.9%, this was followed by "access to capital" with 53.5%. (ILKHA)