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INTRODUCTION

1 This publication presents estimates of expenditure and human resources devoted to R&D carried out by Government and Private non-profit organisations during 2000-01.

2 Comparable R&D statistics are produced for the Business and Higher education sectors (see paragraph 19).

DATA SOURCES

3 The 2000-01 statistics presented in this publication have been compiled from data collected from Government and Private non-profit organisations in the ABS Survey of Research and Experimental Development in respect of the year ended 30 June 2001. This survey was based on a complete enumeration of Government and Private non-profit organisations identified by the ABS as likely R&D performers. The survey was conducted by mailed questionnaires and a 96% response rate was obtained. The ABS believes that the non-respondents were non-R&D performers.

4 Statistics for earlier years were derived from similar surveys. Minor revisions have been made to previous years statistics.

5 The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures used to derive Government expenditure on R&D/GDP ratios are current at the time of manuscript finalisation (National Income, Expenditure and Product, March Quarter 2002 (cat. no. 5206.0)), and, at current prices, are as follows: $425,706m (1992-93); $471,348m (1994-95); $529,886m (1996-97); $591,592m (1998-99); and $672,223m (2000-01). The available Government expenditure on R&D/GDP ratios for other OECD countries are current at time of manuscript finalisation and are sourced from Main Science and Technology Indicators, 2001/2, OECD, Paris, 2001.

DEFINITIONS

6 R&D is defined in accordance with the OECD standard as comprising "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications".

7 Type of R&D activity comprises pure basic research, strategic basic research, applied research and experimental development. Data in this classification are subjectively allocated by respondents at the time of reporting, using OECD/ABS definitions. The ABS makes every effort to ensure correct and consistent interpretation and reporting of these data and applies consistent processing methodologies. Analysts using this classification should bear the original subjectivity in mind.

8 For a more comprehensive interpretation of the definition of R&D activity, contact the ABS or refer to the OECD publication The Measurement of Scientific and Technological Activities ('Frascati Manual' 1993), OECD, Paris 1994.

SCOPE

9 The Government sector includes all Commonwealth, State and Local government departments and authorities. However, for the purpose of this survey Local government organisations have been excluded as it is considered that their contribution to total R&D activity would be minimal.

10 Public sector organisations mainly engaged in higher education (e.g. universities) are included in the Higher Education sector whilst those mainly engaged in trading or financial services are included in the Business Enterprise sector.

11 The Private non-profit sector includes private or semi-public incorporated organisations which are established with the intention of not making a profit.

12 If an organisation is considered as Private non-profit but was established to serve the Business Enterprise sector then it is included in the Business Enterprise sector.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC OBJECTIVE AND RESEARCH FIELDS, COURSES AND DISCIPLINES CLASSIFICATIONS

13 The statistics in this publication are classified by Socio-economic objective (SEO) and Research fields, courses and disciplines (RFCD). For more information on these classifications see the Australian Standard Research Classification, 1998 (cat.no.1297.0).

14 The research classifications used in this publication differ from those used in earlier years. The classifications used in this publication were from the 1998 edition of the Australian Standard Research Classification whereas the 1993 edition was used for previous publications.

15 Respondents are asked to classify each of their R&D programs or projects to a SEO and a RFCD. Two reporting possibilities exist. The first possibility allows for reporting of an obviously predominant SEO and RFCD. The second allows for reporting at program level of several SEOs and RFCDs, where there was no obvious single predominant classification for either or both SEO and RFCD. In these instances the ABS distributes the reported data to R&D projects, with relevant SEOs and RFCDs according to classifications and estimated percentage splits provided by respondents. Most of the data have been reported on the second basis.

CHAIN VOLUME MEASURES

16 The chain volume measures appearing in this publication are annually reweighted chain Laspeyres indexes referenced to the current price values in a chosen reference year (currently 1998-99). They can be thought of as current price values re-expressed in (i.e. based on) the prices of the previous year and linked together to form continuous time series. They are formed in a multi-stage process of which the major steps are described in Section 15 of the information paper, Introduction of Chain Volume Measures in the Australian National Accounts (Cat. no. 5248.0).

RELIABILITY OF STATISTICS

17 The statistics in this publication should be used with caution for the following reasons:

• many respondents had to make estimates because their accounts did not separately record data on R&D activity; and
• the OECD standard definition of R&D used in this survey differs in some respects from what respondents may regard as R&D activity.