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RSS SubscribeTuesday 21st October 2008
Australian R&D expenditure cuts through 2% GDP barrier
by FASTS
Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today shows Australia’s gross expenditure on research and development (R&D) in 2006-2007 was a record $21b, which represented 2.01% of GDP, the first time Australia has recorded a figure higher than 2%.
The Executive Director of FASTS, Mr Bradley Smith, said this was a very encouraging result and just edges Australia into the top ten of OECD nations.
However, we cannot be complacent. Australian expenditure remains below the OECD average of 2.26% in 2006/2007 although the gap has closed considerably from 2002-2003 when Australia invested 1.69% of GDP in R&D when the OECD av erage was 2.24%.
The increase of $5b (32%) between 2004/2005 and 2006/2007 was driven primarily by business, which increased its expenditure by $3.4b and universities by $1.1b.
The time series data provided by the ABS highlights some significant structural changes in R&D over the past 16 years, including:
- Business share of total expenditure on R&D has increased significantly from 44.1% in 1992 to 47.8% in 2000/2001 to 57.3% in 2006/2007.
- In the same period, both Commonwealth and State/Territory Governments have halved their share of R&D with the Commonwealth falling from 17.8% in 1992/1993 to 9.0% in 2006/2007 (universities’ share remains fairly constant at about 26% of gross expenditure).
- Basic research as a proportion of national investment in R&D also declined from 12.1% in 1992 to 10.2% in 2000/2001 to 8.4% in 2006/2007.
The data also shows a significant and rapid shift in socio-economic priorities with economic development dropping as a share of Commonwealth and State Government research from around 60% to 44% between 2000/2001 and 2006/2007.
The re-orienting of research toward health and medical research in particular, but also the environment and social development is perhaps a little surprising given the commercialisation rhetoric of Backing Australia’s Ability.
With more than two thirds of Government and higher education expenditure now in areas where Governments have prime responsibility including health, environmental management and defence, it raises important questions as to the capacity of Governments to be wise and informed ‘research users’.
With research investment heading in the right direction, policy attention needs to also focus on the real costs of research in universities and public sector research agencies, and mechanisms to support greater mobility and knowledge transfer between public and private sectors and internationally, concluded Mr Smith.
