Universities spending more on R&D, but not keeping pace with GDP

Higher Education Expenditure on R&D (HERD) was $14 billion in 2022, up 10 per cent from 2020, according to new data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics, said: “While there was more R&D spending in 2022 compared to 2020, much of it can be put down to a recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions, as well as the rising costs for materials and labour to undertake R&D projects over that time.”

“Higher education spending as a share of GDP has dropped from 0.61 per cent in 2020 to 0.55 per cent in 2022. While the fall appears small, it’s the largest two-year decline in this sector since the ABS started collecting this data in 1992. This drop in share of GDP is equal to $2 billion in spending,” Mr Ewing said.

Biomedical and clinical sciences had the largest rise in R&D expenditure by fields of research in dollar terms, up $429 million (15 per cent). This was followed by Health sciences, up $286 million (23 per cent) since 2020. 

“In 2022, a lot of R&D spending growth was for research in the Biomedical and clinical sciences and Health sciences fields. This contributed to more than half the total spending growth. 

“Since COVID-19, there’s been a real push for health-related R&D within Australia. These findings are consistent with businesses undertaking R&D, as Australia looks to become both a leader and more self-sufficient in this space,” Mr Ewing said.

Looking at the states, Victorian and NSW universities had the largest growth in R&D spending, up 15 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. Combined, NSW and Victoria made up 61 per cent of total R&D spending in Australian universities, growing their share from 59 per cent in 2020.