Australia Yearbook - 2001

850 Year Book Australia 2001
Expenditure on R&D—how does
Australia compare internationally?
The most commonly used indicator for
comparison purposes is the ratio of expenditure
on R&D to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). As
table 25.3 shows, in 1998–99 Australia spent
1.49% of its GDP on R&D, ranking it below Japan
(3.06%), Finland (2.90%), the United States
(2.74%), Korea (2.52%), Germany (2.29%), France
(2.18%), Iceland (2.01%), Denmark (1.92%), the
United Kingdom (1.83%) and Canada (1.64%).
In terms of business enterprise R&D, Australia’s
ratio of R&D expenditure to GDP (0.67%) is again
below the ratios for the industrialised countries
referred to earlier, and is also below the rate for
the Czech Republic.
For government sector R&D as a percentage of
GDP, Australia ranks higher. A ratio to GDP of
0.35% places it fifth in the group of OECD
member countries for which data are available,
behind only Iceland (0.75%), Korea (0.44%),
France (0.43%) and Finland (0.37%). Government
sector R&D as a percentage of GDP is much
higher for Australia than for the United States and
Canada.
For the higher education sector, Australia also
ranks highly. With a ratio to GDP of 0.44%,
Australia ranks behind only Finland (0.57%),
Iceland (0.50%) and Japan (0.45%) among
OECD countries.
Sources of funds for expenditure
on R&D
In 1998–99, the business sector funded 45% of
all Australian R&D. This compares with 33%
recorded in 1988–89. The Commonwealth
Government funded 40% of R&D in 1998–99
(down from 49% in 1988–89) and the State
Governments funded 8% (down from 15% in
1988–89).
In 1998–99, 92% of funding for R&D carried out
by businesses came from the business sector. It
has remained at about this level for the preceding
decade. Commonwealth government
organisations provided 3% of funding for
business R&D expenditure in 1998–99.
About 83% of Commonwealth government sector
R&D was funded by Commonwealth government
organisations in 1998–99. The Commonwealth
government proportion of self-funding has
dropped from 94% ten years ago, with the
business sector and the private non-profit sector
making up most of the remainder, each
contributing 6% in 1998–99.
About 69% of State government R&D was funded
by State government organisations in 1998–99.
This is significantly lower than a decade earlier,
when the proportion was 81%. The private
non-profit sector funded 15% of the State
government R&D in 1998–99, an increase from
4% a decade earlier.
25.3 EXPENDITURE ON R&D AS A PERCENTAGE OF GDP, OECD Countries—1998–99
Business
Government Higher education
Total(a)
Country
%
%
%
%
Japan 2.18 0.28 0.45 3.06
Finland 1.95 0.37 0.57 2.90
United States 2.04 0.22 0.39 2.74
Korea 1.77 0.44 0.28 2.52
Germany 1.55 0.33 0.40 2.29
France 1.35 0.43 0.37 2.18
Iceland 0.73 0.75 0.50 2.01
Denmark 1.20 0.29 0.41 1.92
United Kingdom 1.21 0.24 0.36 1.83
Canada 1.01 0.21 0.39 1.64
Australia 0.67 0.35 0.44 1.49
Czech Republic 0.81 0.32 0.12 1.26
Italy 0.55 0.22 0.26 1.02
Spain 0.47 0.15 0.28 0.90
Poland 0.30 0.22 0.20 0.73
Hungary 0.26 0.21 0.17 0.68
(a) Includes private non-profit.
Source: Main Science and Technology Indicators 2000–1, OECD, Paris, 2000.