8101.0 - Innovation and Technology Update, Feb 2009  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 13/02/2009   
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5 RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT (R&D) STATISTICS

5.1 RECENTLY RELEASED RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT STATISTICS
5.2 CAPITALISATION OF RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL ACCOUNTS
5.3 THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND STANDARD RESEARCH CLASSIFICATION (ANZSRC)


5.1 RECENTLY RELEASED RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT STATISTICS

Research and Experimental Development, All Sector Summary, Australia, 2006-07 (cat. no. 8112.0), was released on 21 October 2008. Contributing to the All Sector Summary were results from separate ABS Business, Government and Private Non-Profit Organisations, and Higher Education R&D Surveys. It reported that gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) in 2006-07 was $21.0 billion, an increase of 32% ($5.0 billion) over 2004-05, representing 2.01% of GDP.

Research and Experimental Development, Businesses, Australia, 2006-07 (cat. no. 8104.0), was released on 21 August 2008. Business expenditure on R&D (BERD) was $12,036 million, an increase of 16% in current price terms and 11% in chain volume terms from 2005-06.

Research and Experimental Development, Government and Private Non-Profit Organisations, Australia, 2006-07 (cat. no. 8109.0), was released on 29 July 2008. In 2006-07 government expenditure on R&D (GOVERD) was $2,954.1 million (an increase of 19% in current price terms and 10% in chain volume terms from 2004-05), while private non-profit expenditure on R&D (PNPERD) was $606.3 million. (An increase of 27% in current price terms and 16% in chain volume terms from 2004-05)

Research and Experimental Development, Higher Education Organisations, Australia, 2006 (cat. no. 8111.0), was released on 13 June 2008. Higher education expenditure on R&D (HERD) in Australia in 2006 was $5,404.4 million, an increase of 25% in current price terms and 15% in chain volume terms from 2004.

5.2 CAPITALISATION OF RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL ACCOUNTS

The incoming System of National Accounts (SNA 2008) recommends that expenditure on R&D be treated as fixed capital formation rather than intermediate consumption, which was the treatment adopted in SNA 1993. The ABS has been working with other statistical agencies and the OECD to resolve the conceptual and practical issues involved in capitalising R&D, and is in the process of implementing the new treatment in the Australian National Accounts.

The ABS will be the first national statistical agency to capitalise R&D in its national accounts. Compilation of the estimates is well advanced, and the new treatment is expected to be implemented in the 2008/09 accounts, due for release in November 2009. The new estimates are expected to attract wide interest in statistical organisations around the world. Naturally, the main data source feeding into the ANA for R&D capitalisation is the ABS' suite of R&D surveys.

5.3 THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND STANDARD RESEARCH CLASSIFICATION (ANZSRC)

The ANZSRC 2008 (cat. no. 1297.0) was developed for dual purposes: a need for a comprehensive description of today's research environment, as well as to facilitate the comparison of R&D statistics internationally. The new classification will be implemented in the upcoming cycle of the ABS suite of R&D surveys.