Research and Experimental Development - Businesses (Survey of)

NAME OF ORGANISATION
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

OVERVIEW
The Survey of R&D, Businesses collects estimates of R&D expenditure and human resources devoted to R&D by businesses in Australia. The data are classified by industry, size of business, type of expenditure, source of funds, location of expenditure, type of activity, fields of research, socio-economic objectives and type of resource.

PURPOSE

The Survey of R&D, Businesses is part of a suite of ABS Research and Experimental Development (R&D) surveys (covering the Private Non-Profit, Government, Higher Education and Business sectors) which collectively produce statistics to enable the nature and distribution of R&D activity in Australia to be monitored and analysed. The data are used by government and advisors to government, businesses, academics, economists and international organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for a variety of purposes, including policy formulation, allocation of funds and the determination of priorities for research and development.

SCOPE

All organisations within the Australian Business sector (i.e. all businesses and the private non-profit institutions mainly serving them) likely to be performing R&D, with intramural expenditure on R&D of $100,000 or more in the reference period.

DATA DETAIL

Conceptual framework
The suite of ABS R&D surveys are conducted in accordance with international guidelines outlined in the OECD Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research and Experimental Development - Frascati Manual 2015. This manual forms the conceptual framework for the surveys for all expenditure and human resources data items.

The surveys also use the classification developed by the ABS and Statistics New Zealand for use in the measurement and analysis of R&D activity undertaken in the two countries. This classification is the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008 (cat. no. 1297.0), which itself follows the guidelines prescribed in the Frascati Manual.

Main outputs
Business expenditure on R&D (BERD): Total R&D expenditure is output both in current prices and chain volume measures. Value of expenditure on R&D (current prices) is output by industry, employment size, type of expenditure, source of funds, location of expenditure, type of activity, fields of research and socio-economic objective.

Business human resources devoted to R&D: Human resources devoted to R&D (expressed in person years of effort) is output by industry, employment size and type of resource.

Classifications

• Employment size: Standard ABS employment size groupings
• Industry: Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (ABS cat. no. 1292.0)
• Location of expenditure: States and Territories of Australia, Overseas
• Type of Activity (TOA), Fields of Research (FOR) and Socio-Economic Objective (SEO): Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008 (ABS cat. no. 1297.0)

GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL
Australia
New South Wales
Victoria
Queensland
South Australia
Western Australia
Tasmania
Northern Territory
ACT
Other (specify below)

Comments and/or Other Regions

Data are collected by location of expenditure, which is the region(s) in which the business performed R&D. This may not be the head office location of the business. Location of expenditure includes states, territories and overseas.

COLLECTION FREQUENCY
2 Yearly

Frequency comments

COLLECTION HISTORY

1976-77, 1978-79, 1981-82, 1984-85, 1986-87, 1988-89 - Complete enumeration of likely R&D performers

1983-84, 1985-86, 1987-88, 1989-90 - Stratified random sample of likely R&D performers

1990-91 to 2004-05 - Annual complete enumeration of likely R&D performers

2005-06 to 2010-11 - Annual complete enumeration of known R&D performers with expenditure on R&D of $100,000 or more

2011-12 - Annual stratified random sample of likely R&D performers with expenditure on R&D of $100,000 or more

2013-14 to 2015-16 - Biennial stratified random sample of likely R&D performers with expenditure on R&D of $100,000 or more

DATA AVAILABILITY
Yes

Data availability comments