INNOVATION IN AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS - SUMMARY

Summary of innovative activity in Australian business(a), key indicators, 2007 - 08 and 2008 - 09
			2007-08	2008-09
Estimated number of businesses(b)		'000	711	713
Businesses which introduced any new or significantly improved:
	goods or services	%	21.9	18.2
	operational processes	%	17.6	16.3
	organisational/managerial processes	%	19.0	19.4
	marketing methods	%	14.6	17.2
Businesses which introduced innovation (innovating businesses)		%	39.1	35.0
Businesses with innovation activity which was:
	still in development	%	22.5	17.6
	abandoned	%	6.9	6.5
Businesses with any innovative activity (innovation-active businesses)		%	44.9	39.8
(a) Proportions are of all businesses.
(b) Business counts are provided for contextual information only, please refer to Explanatory Notes 20 and 21.

Innovation-active businesses

The proportion of businesses which were innovation-active (i.e. those which undertook any innovative activity) decreased 5 percentage points from 45% in 2007-08 to 40% in 2008-09.


Innovating businesses

During the year ended 30 June 2009, 35% of Australian businesses reported introducing at least one type of innovation. This represents a 4 percentage point decrease from the previous year.

The most frequently reported type of innovation in 2008-09 was the introduction of new organisational/managerial processes, at 19%. This was followed by new goods or services, which decreased by 4 percentage points in 2008-09, to 18%. New marketing methods was the only broad type of innovation to record a noticeable increase compared to the previous year, increasing by over 2 percentage points in 2008-09 to 17%. New operational processes were the least likely to be reported by Australian business in 2008-09, at 16%.


Innovation still in development

Just under 18% of Australian businesses reported some form of innovative activity still in development as at 30 June 2009. This was a decrease of over 4 percentage points from the previous year.


Abandoned innovation

During the year ended 30 June 2009, the proportion of Australian businesses that abandoned at least one innovative activity was 6%. This was a marginal decrease from the 7% reported in 2007-08.

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