• Summary
• Downloads
• Explanatory Notes
• Related Information
• Past Releases

INTRODUCTION

1 This publication presents statistics on expenditure and human resources devoted to R&D carried out in Australia by the Business sector during 2001-02.

2 For details of R&D statistics available for the General government, Private non-profit and Higher education sectors see paragraph 23.


DATA SOURCES

3 The 2001-02 data presented in this publication have been compiled from data collected from businesses in the Survey of Research and Experimental Development in respect of the year ended June 2002. This survey was based on a complete enumeration of businesses identified by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as likely R&D performers (businesses mainly engaged in Agriculture, forestry and fishing were excluded; see paragraph 13). The survey was conducted by mailed questionnaires and an 85% response was obtained. For businesses that did not respond to the current survey and had reported R&D activity in the previous survey, data were imputed based on the expected expenditures for 2001-02 reported previously. Where R&D activity had not been previously reported, the non-respondents were deemed to be non-R&D performers for the current year.

4 The GDP figures used to derive BERD/GDP ratios are current at the time of manuscript finalisation (Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, March quarter 2003 (cat. no. 5206.0)) and, at current prices, are as follows: $502,828m (1995-96); $529,886m (1996-97); $561,229m (1997-98); $591,917m (1998-99); $628,621m (1999-2000); $669,307m (2000-01) and $711,943m (2001-02). The available BERD/GDP ratios for other OECD countries are current at the time of manuscript finalisation and are sourced from Main Science and Technology Indicators, 2003/1, OECD, Paris, 2003.

5 The GSP figures used to derive R&D expenditure to GSP ratios are current at the time of manuscript finalisation (Australian National Accounts: State Accounts, 2001-02 (cat. no. 5220.0)) and, at current prices, are as follows: New South Wales $249,411m; Victoria $183,426m; Queensland $120,009m; South Australia $47,002m; Western Australia $77,738m and Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory combined $35,394m.


STATISTICAL UNIT

6 The statistical unit used to represent businesses, and for which statistics are reported, is the Australian Business Number (ABN) unit, in most cases. The ABN unit is the business unit which has registered for an ABN, and thus appears on the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) administered Australian Business Register. This unit is suitable for ABS statistical needs when the business is simple in structure. For more significant and diverse businesses where the ABN unit is not suitable for ABS statistical needs, the statistical unit used is the Type of Activity Unit (TAU). A TAU is comprised of one or more business entities, sub-entities or branches of a business entity within an Enterprise Group that can report production and employment data for similar economic activities. Further details about the ABS economic statistical units used in this survey, and in other ABS economic surveys (both sample surveys and censuses), can be found in Chapter 2 of the Standard Economic Sector Classifications of Australia (SESCA) 2002 (cat. no. 1218.0).


DEFINITIONS

7 R&D is defined in accordance with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (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'.

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' 2002), OECD, Paris 2003.


SCOPE

9 The scope of this survey is all businesses within the Business sector of Australia which have undertaken R&D.

10 The Business sector includes all businesses whose primary activity is the production of goods or services for sale to the general public at a price intended to cover at least the costs of production, and the private non-profit institutions mainly serving them.

11 The vast majority of businesses in this sector are private businesses. The remainder are public businesses mainly engaged in trading or financial activities.

COVERAGE

12 The 2001-02 R&D survey comprised a complete enumeration of businesses identified by the ABS as likely to have carried out R&D activity.

13 The Business sector for the R&D survey excludes businesses mainly engaged in Agriculture, forestry and fishing (i.e. industries in Division A of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 1993 (cat. no. 1292.0)), partly because of collection difficulties and partly because such businesses are believed to have very low R&D activity (agricultural R&D activity is generally carried out by specialised research institutes not included in ANZSIC Division A).

14 Within the scope of the survey, businesses were included in the collection if they satisfied any of the following criteria:

• businesses which, in previous R&D surveys, reported R&D activity
• businesses applying for the R&D Tax Concession and/or grants for Industry R&D
• businesses identified from reports in newspapers, industrial journals, research compendia etc. as likely to have R&D activity
• businesses which indicated on an exploratory questionnaire that R&D activity had been undertaken.

• Many data providers made estimates because their accounts did not separately record data on R&D activity.
• The OECD standard definition of R&D used in this survey differs in some respects from what data providers may regard as R&D activity. This is because the definitions used within the grants for industry R&D schemes (for the allocation of grants), and the R&D Tax Concession scheme (for tax deductibility for specific R&D activities) are slightly different from the international standard.
• Some businesses had difficulties describing their R&D programs in terms of socio-economic objectives and research fields. The data presented under these classifications therefore reflect a degree of subjectivity.