The Australian Government's Innovation Report

The Australian Innovation Scorecard
The report incorporates the Australian Innovation Scorecard 2006, which is the third in a biennial series designed
to provide a snapshot of Australia’s innovation performance relative to other OECD economies. It also
examines the national innovation performance over a period of time from 2002.
The Australian Innovation Scorecard 2006 demonstrates a steady improvement in Australia’s innovation
performance across a range of indicators where we compare very favourably with the OECD average. Australia
ranked in the top 10 OECD countries in 12 out of the 18 indicators, and performed well above the average
in the areas of knowledge creation (science and technical articles per million of the population), human
resources (science graduates in employment), finance (investment in venture capital as a percentage of GDP)
and market outcomes (businesses selling over the internet).
This bodes well for Australia’s ability to capitalise on innovative people, processes and technologies to compete
in global markets.
Moving forward with confidence
The Australian Government draws on a number of advisory bodies and data sources to both review the past
performance of Australian science and innovation and develop future strategies. The report includes a
summary of the roles and activities of some of the key organisational bodies and individuals that are
contributing to informing its forward planning, along with progress on major inquiries or reviews.
Particular highlights of the year included the appointment of a new Chief Scientist, Dr Jim Peacock AC, in
March 2006, and the commissioning of a major study of the economic, social and environmental returns
stemming from public support for science and innovation in Australia.
16 Backing Australia’s Ability