8101.0 - Innovation and Technology Update (Newsletter), Dec 2004  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 23/12/2004   
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3 RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT (R&D) STATISTICS

3.1 Business R&D Survey 2002-03
3.2 Government and Private Non-profit R&D Surveys 2002-03
3.3 All Sector R&D
3.4 Business R&D Survey 2003-04
3.5 International Standards

3.1 Business R&D survey 2002-03

The processing of the survey of R&D undertaken by businesses in 2002-03 has been completed and results released. 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 available.

Summary statistics are contained in the publication Research and Experimental Development, Businesses, Australia 2002-03 (cat. no. 8104.0) which was released on 6 September 2004.

Key findings included:

  • In 2002-03, Business expenditure on R&D (BERD) was estimated to be $5,979m at current prices, 3.6% higher than that recorded in 2001-02. In volume terms, with the effect of changes in prices and wages and salaries removed, BERD was 1.5% up on 2001-02.
  • The Mining industry recorded a 3.0% decrease in R&D expenditure while expenditure by the Manufacturing industry increased by 11.9%. The Finance and insurance and the Scientific research industries recorded increases of 5.9% and 9.1% respectively while the Wholesale and retail trade and the Property and business services industries recorded decreases of 4.1% and 2.2% respectively.
  • BERD as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased to 0.79% in 2002-03, following successive increases between 1999-2000 and 2001-02. Australia's BERD/GDP ratio remains relatively low when compared with other OECD countries for which comparable data are available.
3.2 Government and private non-profit R&D surveys 2002-03

The processing of the surveys of R&D undertaken by government and private non-profit organisations in 2002-03 has been completed and results released. 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 available.

Summary statistics are contained in the publication Research and Experimental Development, Government and Private Non-Profit Organisations, Australia 2002-03 (cat. no. 8109.0) which was released on 8 September 2004.

Key findings included:
  • In 2002-03, expenditure on R&D carried out by Government organisations (GOVERD) was estimated to be $2,482m at current prices, 5.4% higher than that recorded in 2000-01. In volume terms, with the effect of changes in prices and wages and salaries removed, GOVERD was 0.2% up on 2000-01.
  • GOVERD as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased from 0.35% in 2000-01 to 0.33% in 2002-03. Australia's GOVERD/GDP ratio remains high when compared with other OECD countries for which comparable data are available.
  • In 2002-03, expenditure on R&D carried out by Private non-profit organisations was estimated to be $360m at current prices, 24.4% higher than that recorded in 2000-01. In volume terms, with the effect of changes in prices and wages and salaries removed, R&D expenditure was 17.2% up on 2000-01.

3.3 All sector R&D

Summary statistics of expenditure and human resources devoted to R&D carried out in Australia by organisations within the Business, Government and Private non-profit sectors during 2002-03 and the higher education sector during the 2002 calendar year are contained in the publication Research and Experimental Development, All Sector Summary, Australia 2002-03 (cat. no. 8112.0) which was released on 13 September 2004.

Key findings included:
  • Gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) in Australia in 2002-03 was estimated to be $12,250m at current prices, 17.6% higher than that recorded in 2000-01. With the exception of the state/territory government which remained steady, all sectors showed an increase in R&D expenditure compared with 2000-01.
  • GERD as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased from 1.55% in 2000-01 to 1.62% in 2002-03. Australia's GERD/GDP ratio is low compared with other OECD countries, reflecting the low R&D expenditure to GDP ratio of the Business sector.
3.4 Business R&D survey 2003-04

The processing of the survey of R&D undertaken by businesses in 2003-04 has commenced. 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, research fields and socioeconomic objectives are being collected. In addition, questions on biotechnology R&D have been included (for further information see 4.2 below).

Results from the survey will be included in the publication Research and Experimental Development, Businesses, Australia 2003-04 (cat. no. 8104.0) which is scheduled for release in September 2005.

3.5 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 www.oecd.org).