The Australian Government's Innovation Report

CHAPTER 2 – Initiatives for a dynamic national innovation system
Part I – Strengthening our ability to generate ideas and undertake research
The generation of knowledge through research is a key component of Australia’s national innovation system.
It is a major contributor to innovation, offering the potential of both immediate returns through its use to
improve products and processes, as well as longer term benefits through its capacity to inform future
strategies.
The Australian Government’s support for research and development (R&D) is significant, representing more
than one third of total R&D investment in Australia. This support is directed at a number of areas spanning
both the public and private sectors (see Chapter 1). It plays an active and ongoing role in: building the capacity
of publicly funded research agencies and universities to deliver research outcomes consistent with their
missions and national priority goals; providing incentives for industry investment in R&D; supporting access
to major research infrastructure; and promoting the internationalisation of R&D.
Funding under the Backing Australia’s Ability initiative is a key feature of the Australian Government’s support
for R&D and demonstrates its strong commitment to keeping Australia at the forefront of knowledge. This
section identifies some key indicators of Australia’s performance against this goal, and highlights relevant
activities of Australian Government departments and agencies over 2005-06.
Performance highlights
• Australia accounted for approximately 1.3% of total world R&D expenditure, ranking 14 th in the world
in 2004 (latest figures available).
• Australia’s gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) was at an all-time high
of approximately $15.8 billion in 2004-05, an increase of 19.4% at current prices over 2002-03.
• Australia’s R&D intensity, measured by GERD as a share of GDP, rose to a record level of approximately
1.77% in 2004-05, up from 1.69% in 2002-03.
• In 2004-05, Australia’s R&D expenditure in the public sector (government research agencies and
universities combined) stood at $6.8 billion in 2004-05, an increase of 15.6% at current prices over
2002-03. This included $4.3 billion performed in universities (up 24.9% over 2002-03) and $2.6 billion
in government research agencies (up 2.8% over 2002-03).
• Australia’s business R&D expenditure reached $8.4 billion in 2004-05, which is the highest level
recorded and the sixth successive year of increase. Over the five years to 2004-05, Australia’s business
R&D expenditure grew at a real rate of 11.5% a year.
• Barry Marshall and Robin Warren won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work
identifying the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcers.
• During the five-year period to 2005, Australia accounted for nearly 3% of the total world scientific
publications, producing 1141 scientific publications per million population over this period.
• Australian scientific publications generated citation impacts higher than the world average over the
period 2001-2005, with particularly strong performance in the fields of space science, geosciences,
mathematics, clinical medicine, plant and animal science, agricultural science, physics, and
ecology/environment.
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