BUSINESS EXPENDITURE ON R&D (BERD)


INDUSTRY

In 2007-08, the largest contributors to BERD were Manufacturing ($4,305 million or 30%), Mining ($3,283 million or 23%) and Professional, scientific and technical services ($2,230 million or 16%).

Of all industries, Mining and Manufacturing reported the largest absolute growth from 2006-07, increasing their expenditure on R&D by $510 million (18%) and $469 million (12%) respectively. Other industries to record large increases included Financial and insurance services (up $313 million or 28%) and Professional, scientific and technical services (up $233 million or 12%).

EMPLOYMENT SIZE

In 2007-08, businesses with 200 or more employees made the largest contribution to BERD ($10,040 million or 70%), followed by those with 20-199 employees ($2,753 million or 19%). Making the smallest contribution to BERD were businesses with 0-4 employees ($477 million or 3%) and those with 5-19 employees ($1,109 million or 8%). Businesses with 200 or more employees contributed 71% ($1,302 million) of the total growth in BERD between 2006-07 and 2007-08.


TYPE OF EXPENDITURE

As in previous years, BERD in 2007-08 was mainly comprised of Current expenditure ($13,620 million or 95% of BERD). Current expenditure was in turn comprised of $8,690 million in Labour costs and $4,929 million in Other current expenditure. Capital expenditure in 2007-08 totalled $760 million.

The industries with the highest level of Labour costs as a proportion of its BERD were Retail trade and Education and training (both at 60%), while the lowest were reported in Mining and Electricity, gas, water and waste services (at 14% and 18% respectively).

Manufacturing ($272 million) and Mining ($155 million) combined made up more than half (56%) of total Capital expenditure.


SOURCE OF FUNDS

The Business sector was the main source of BERD funds in 2007-08, with $13,389 million (93%) coming from Own funds and $350 million (2%) from Other business. Commonwealth government and Overseas sources were the next largest funders of BERD, at $390 million (3%) and $192 million (1%) respectively.

Health care and social assistance and Professional, scientific and technical services industries had the lowest proportions of self-funded research, at 71% and 80% respectively.


LOCATION OF EXPENDITURE

Locations in New South Wales and Victoria continued to record the highest levels of BERD in 2007-08, at $4,371 million (30%) and $3,949 million (28%) respectively. Western Australia reported the largest absolute growth in BERD (up $532 million) from 2006-07, followed by Victoria (up $521 million) and New South Wales (up $361 million).

While Manufacturing accounted for the largest proportion of BERD in a majority of locations, in 2007-08 the dominant industry in Western Australia was Mining (making up 61% of WA BERD).

Western Australia (1.66%) and Victoria (1.47%) reported the highest percentages of BERD as a proportion of Gross State Product (GSP). Western Australia also experienced the largest increase in its BERD/GSP ratio from 2006-07, rising from 1.49% to 1.66%.

BERD, by location of expenditure - proportion of GSP(a)
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
2005-06	1.08	1.27	0.74	1.00	1.35	0.45	0.82	0.50
2006-07	1.19	1.38	0.85	1.23	1.49	0.52	0.78	0.43
2007-08	1.21	1.47	0.91	1.27	1.66	0.62	0.52	0.43
(a) See Explanatory Note 2 for details.

TYPE OF ACTIVITY

In 2007-08, the majority of BERD was directed into Experimental development ($8,966 million or 62%) and Applied research ($4,615 million or 32%). Experimental development showed the largest absolute growth between 2006-07 and 2007-08, increasing by $1,234 million.


FIELD OF RESEARCH

Accounting for 81% of BERD in 2007-08 were the research fields of Engineering ($7,921 million or 55%) and Information and computing sciences ($3,678 million or 26%).


SOCIO-ECONOMIC OBJECTIVE (SEO)

BERD on SEO Manufacturing ($4,522 million) was more than double that of any other SEO and accounted for 31% of BERD in 2007-08. Mineral resources (excluding energy resources) and Energy SEOs reported the next highest levels of BERD, at $2,057 million and $2,021 million respectively.


FOREIGN OWNERSHIP

Wholly Australian owned businesses made the largest contribution to BERD at $6,353 million, however businesses with Greater than 50% foreign ownership reported the largest absolute growth from 2006-07, up $629 million.

BERD, by level of foreign ownership(a)
	2006-07	2007-08
	$'000	$'000
Wholly Australian owned (0%)	5 756 655	6 353 105
Greater than 0% and less than 10%	704 332	747 608
10% to 50%	1 505 686	2 067 485
Greater than 50%	4 582 209	5 211 698
Total	12 548 882	14 379 896
(a) A definition of foreign ownership was not provided to survey respondents and data were accepted as reported.