8112.0 - Research and Experimental Development, All Sector Summary, Australia, 2000-01  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/07/2002   
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MAIN FEATURES


GROSS EXPENDITURE ON R&D (GERD)

After levelling off in the period 1996-97 to 1998-99, gross expenditure on R&D increased by 15% from $8,936m in 1998-99 to $10,251m in 2000-01. All sectors showed an increase in R&D expenditure compared with 1998-99.

EXPENDITURE ON R&D
Graph - Expenditure on R&D


GROSS EXPENDITURE ON R&D

1994-95
$m
1996-97
$m
1998-99
$m
2000-01
$m
Sector
Business3,508.3r4,234.7r4,091.24,825.3
Government
Commonwealth1,193.3r1,266.6r1,207.11,424.8
State/territory782.8r797.7r862.8943.6
Higher education1,829.62,307.6r2,555.12,774.6
Private non-profit152.7r185.8r220.1283.2
Total7,466.7r8,792.4r8,936.410,251.4

r revised

In 2000-01, 47% of GERD in current prices was expended in the Business sector, 27% in the Higher education sector, 23% in the Government sector and 3% in the Private non-profit sector. By comparison, in 1998-99, 46%, 29%, 23% and 2% of GERD was expended in these sectors respectively.


GERD AS A PERCENTAGE OF GDP

GERD as a percentage of GDP has risen from 1.51% in 1998-99 to 1.53% in 2000-01, well below the high of 1.66% in 1996-97.

GERD AS A PERCENTAGE OF GDP
Graph - GERD AS A PERCENTAGE OF GDP



Australia's GERD/GDP ratio is low compared with other OECD countries. Australia is ranked well below countries such as Finland, United States of America, Germany and France. Australia's ranking reflects the low R&D expenditure to GDP ratio of the Business sector. However, Australia's Government and Higher education sectors have a high ratio compared with other OECD countries.

GERD/GDP RATIOS OF OECD COUNTRIES

1998-99
%
2000-01
%
Country
Finland2.893.31
Japan2.94na
United States of America2.602.76
Korea2.55na
Germany2.312.46
France2.172.15
Denmark2.04na
Iceland2.04na
Canada1.821.94
United Kingdom1.83na
Austria1.791.80
Australia1.511.53
Czech Republic1.241.35
Italy0.98na
Spain0.900.90
Hungary0.680.82
Poland0.720.70

na not available

HUMAN RESOURCES DEVOTED TO R&D

In 2000-01, 95,254 person years were devoted to R&D, up 4% from 1998-99. The majority of these resources were expended by Higher education organisations (49%), Businesses (29%) and Government organisations (19%). In the period 1994-95 to 2000-01, human resources devoted to R&D increased by 10% or 8,371 person years. Over this period, human resources increased steadily in the Higher education and Private non-profit sectors and fell steadily in the Government sector. In the Business sector, human resources increased between 1994-95 and 1996-97, before falling in 1998-99 and then increasing again in 2000-01.

HUMAN RESOURCES DEVOTED TO R&D

1994-95
person years
1996-97
person years
1998-99
person years
2000-01
person years
Sector
Business25,812r26,412r25,10427,839
Government
Commonwealth10,660r10,377r9,5169,711
State/territory8,649r8,813r9,1948,697
Higher education40,09642,73945,50246,287
Private non-profit1,666r2,351r2,4682,721
Total86,883r90,692r91,78495,254

r revised


TYPE OF EXPENDITURE

Current expenditure accounted for 91% of gross R&D expenditure, with capital expenditure accounting for the remaining 9%. Labour costs accounted for 46% of total expenditure.

Other current expenditure was the main component (47%) of expenditure by the Business sector, down from 48% in 1998-99. Labour costs accounted for 44%, up from 41% in 1998-99.

Labour costs continued to be the main component of Government R&D expenditure (51%), down from 52% in 1998-99. Capital expenditure accounted for 9%, up from 8% in 1998-99.

Current expenditure accounted for 92%, down from 93% in 1998-99, of Higher education R&D expenditure. Labour costs accounted for 44% of total expenditure.


SOURCE OF FUNDS

The major sources of funds for R&D expenditure in Australia in 2000-01 were Business 46% ($4,702m), the same proportion as in 1998-99, and Commonwealth government 38% ($3,923m), down from 39% in 1998-99. State/territory/local government as a source of funds provided 8%, the same as in 1998-99. Other Australian sources provided 5%, the same as in 1998-99. Overseas provided 3% of funds, up from 2% in 1998-99. By comparison, in 1990-91 these sectors provided 41%, 44%, 11%, 3% and 1% of funding respectively.


TYPE OF ACTIVITY

Experimental development remained the predominant activity on which R&D funds were expended, accounting for 38% ($3,891m) of gross expenditure on R&D, down from 41% in 1998-99. Applied research accounted for 36% of gross R&D expenditure in 2000-01, up from 32% in 1998-99. Strategic basic research accounted for 15%, as it did in 1998-99, and Pure basic research accounted for 10%, down from 11% in 1998-99.

In 2000-01, the Higher education sector accounted for 79% ($847m) of expenditure on Pure basic research and 42% ($666m) of expenditure on Strategic basic research, and was the main contributor to each of these activities. The Government sector accounted for 38% ($1,405m) of expenditure on Applied research and was the major contributor to this activity. The Business sector accounted for 86% of Experimental development activity with expenditure of $3,333m.


LOCATION OF EXPENDITURE

The leading states in terms of location of gross R&D expenditure in 2000-01 were NewSouthWales at $3,086m and Victoria at $3,043m, each accounting for 30% of total expenditure on R&D. Next in order were Queensland (13%), Western Australia (9%) and South Australia (8%).


EXPENDITURE BY SOCIO-ECONOMIC OBJECTIVE (SEO)

In 2000-01, 63% ($6,494m) of R&D expenditure was directed towards Economic development. Society accounted for a further 19% of R&D expenditure, followed by Non-oriented research (7%), Environment (6%) and Defence (4%). Manufacturing accounted for 36% ($2,323m) of R&D expenditure within Economic development.

Economic development accounted for the majority of expenditure on R&D in the Business sector with 89%, in the Commonwealth government sector with 57%, and in the State/territory government sector with 59%.

Society was the main purpose of R&D expenditure in the Higher education sector with 40% and in the Private non-profit sector with 97%.


EXPENDITURE BY RESEARCH FIELD

The bulk of the Business sector's R&D expenditure was in Engineering and technology (55%) and Information, computing and communication sciences (26%).

The research fields in which most Commonwealth government expenditure occurred were Engineering and technology (25%), Agricultural, veterinary and environmental sciences (16%), Information, computing and communication sciences (13%) and Earth sciences (13%).

State/territory government expenditure on R&D was mainly in Agricultural, veterinary and environmental sciences (57%), Medical and health sciences (17%) and Biological sciences (11%).

The research fields in which significant Higher education R&D expenditure occurred included Medical and health sciences (24%), Biological sciences (12%) and Engineering and technology(11%).

The majority of the Private non-profit sector's R&D expenditure was in Medical and health sciences (64%) and Biological sciences (27%).


TYPE OF EMPLOYEE

Total person years of effort for 2000-01 was 95,254, an increase of 3,470 person years on 1998-99. The effort by researchers increased by 4% from 63,043 to 65,805 person years. R&D effort by Technicians and Other supporting staff increased by 2% from 28,741 to 29,450 person years.

Researchers were the predominant type of employee in total person years for all sectors, accounting for approximately 85% of Higher education person years, 57% of Business person years, 49% of Government person years, and 55% of Private non-profit person years of effort.


HUMAN RESOURCES BY SEO

Of the total person years expended on R&D, Economic development accounted for 50%, Society for 28%, Non-oriented research for 13%, Environment for 7% and Defence for 3%. This pattern is noticeably different to that for expenditure reflecting the fact that average R&D expenditure per person year of effort differs across the sectors. In particular, it is considerably lower for the Higher education sector because a major part of the R&D is carried out by postgraduates and the research is generally directed towards objectives requiring less capital.


HUMAN RESOURCES BY RESEARCH FIELD

The bulk of the Business sector's human resource effort was in Engineering and technology (50%) and Information, computing and communication sciences (30%).

The main research fields that the Commonwealth government sector's human resource effort was directed towards included Engineering and technology (27%) and Agricultural, veterinary and environmental sciences (17%).

State/territory government human resource effort was predominantly expended in Agricultural, veterinary and environmental sciences (51%) and Medical and health sciences (24%).

The significant research fields in which Higher education human resource efforts were expended were Medical and health sciences (19%), Engineering and technology (11%) and Biological sciences (10%).

The majority of the Private non-profit sector's human resource effort was directed towards Medical and health sciences (61%) and Biological sciences (32%).