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