8101.0 - Innovation and Technology Update (Newsletter), Dec 2003  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 14/01/2004   
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3 RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT (R&D) STATISTICS

3.1 Business R&D Survey 2001-02
3.2 Higher Education R&D Survey 2002
3.3 Business, Government asnd Private Non-profit R&D Surveys 2002-03
3.4 International Standards

3.1 Business R&D survey 2001-02

The processing of the Business R&D survey for the year 2001-02 has been completed and results have been released. Details of R&D expenditure and human resources devoted to R&D classified by type of expenditure, location of expenditure, source of funds, business employment size, type of employee, research fields and socioeconomic objectives are available.

Summary statistics are contained in the publication Research and Experimental Development, Businesses, Australia (cat. no. 8104.0) which was released on 7 August 2003.

Key findings included:

    • In 2001-02, Business Expenditure on R&D (BERD) was estimated to be $5,546m at current prices, 13% higher than that recorded in 2000-01. This is the highest level recorded and is the second successive year of significant increase following the declines from 1995-96 to 1998-99 and the levelling off between 1998-99 and 1999-2000. In volume terms, BERD was 8% up on 2000-01 and 4% above the previous peak level of 1995-96.
    • BERD as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased to 0.78% in 2001-02, the second successive increase following decreases between 1995-96 and 1999-2000. The percentage remains well below the high of 0.87% in 1995-96. Australia's BERD/GDP ratio remains relatively low when compared with those available for other OECD countries.
3.2 Higher education R&D survey 2002

The survey of R&D undertaken by higher education organisations in 2002 is currently being processed. Details of R&D expenditure and human resources devoted to R&D classified by type of expenditure, location of expenditure, source of funds, type of employee, type of activity, research fields and socioeconomic objectives were collected.

Summary statistics for 2002 will be included in the publication Research and Experimental Development, Higher Education Organisations, Australia (cat. no. 8111.0) which should be released in March 2004.

3.3 Business, government and private non-profit R&D surveys 2002-03

The surveys of R&D undertaken by businesses, government organisations and private non-profit organisations in 2002-03 are underway. Details of R&D expenditure and human resources devoted to R&D classified by type of expenditure, location of expenditure, source of funds, type of employee, type of activity, research fields and socioeconomic objectives are being collected.

Summary statistics for 2002-03 will be included in the publications Research and Experimental Development, Businesses, Australia (cat. no. 8104.0), Research and Experimental Development, General Government and Private Non-Profit Organisations, Australia (cat. no. 8109.0) and Research and Experimental Development, All Sector Summary, Australia (cat. no. 8112.0) which should be released in July/August 2004.
3.4 International standards

The ABS surveys of R&D are conducted in accordance with standard guidelines promulgated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and contained in the OECD publication, The Measurement of Scientific and Technological Activities ('Frascati Manual' 2002, available as a free PDF file by visiting http://www.oecd.org).