8101.0 - Innovation and Technology Update (Newsletter), Jun 2005  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 30/06/2005   
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6 INNOVATION STATISTICS

6.1 Release of 'Innovation in Australian Business, 2003'
6.2 International Standards

6.1 Release of 'Innovation in Australian Business, 2003'

The ABS has recently released the publication
Innovation in Australian Business, 2003 (ABS cat. no. 8158.0) on 17 February 2005. It presents results from the 2003 Innovation Survey, where the ABS collected details of technological, organisational and managerial innovation in a wide range of industries, including service industries.
The 2003 survey was broader in scope than the previous two surveys and covers businesses in all ANZSIC divisions with the exception of Agriculture, forestry and fishing; Government administration and defence; Education; Health and community services and Personal and other services divisions. It also excluded businesses with less than five employees and those classified to General Government in the Standard Institutional Sector Classification of Australia (SISCA).

Main Features of the publication include:

  • During the three years ended December 2003 innovation was undertaken by 34.8% of businesses. A higher proportion of businesses innovating (22.9%) implemented new or significantly improved operational processes than introduced new or significantly improved goods or services (16.6%).
  • The extent of innovation varied according to the employment size of the business, ranging from 30.4% for businesses with 5-19 persons, up to 60.8% for businesses with 100 or more persons.
  • The majority of innovating businesses were in New South Wales and Victoria, but South Australia had the highest proportion of businesses undertaking innovation (45.9%).
  • After South Australia, with 23.8% of businesses, New South Wales (17.8%) and Victoria (17.1%) had the next highest proportions of businesses introducing new or significantly improved goods or services.
  • Just over half of the businesses in the Communication services (51.1%) and Electricity, gas and water supply (50.8%) industries undertook innovation. Businesses in the Accommodation, cafes and restaurants (26.5%) and Construction industries (30.7%) had the lowest proportion of businesses innovating.
  • Total expenditure on innovation in 2002-03 by innovating businesses was $13,123.4 million. Innovating businesses in Victoria contributed 35.7% to the total expenditure on innovation even though they comprised 25.5% of innovating businesses in Australia.
  • The Manufacturing industry contributed the highest proportion (27.1%) to the total Australian expenditure on innovation.
  • After adjustments to allow for differences in scope, the total proportion of businesses innovating in Australia (43%) is slightly higher than that of the EU as a whole (41%). The proportion of Australian businesses innovating in the Industry Sector (46%) ranks seventh when compared to European countries, while those in the Services Sector (39%) rank ninth.
More details for this release are shown in the Main Features (ABS cat. no. 8158.0).

For further information, please contact Peter Hodgson at peter.hodgson@abs.gov.au.

6.2 International Standards

The survey was based on concepts and standard questions developed jointly by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Eurostat. The concepts have been published in 'OECD Proposed Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Technological Innovation Data' (OECD, Paris, 1997), known as the Oslo Manual. This Manual is available as a free PDF file by visiting http://www.oecd.org.