Australian Bureau of Statistics
Celebrating the International Year of Statistics 2013

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EXPLANATORY NOTES


INTRODUCTION

1 This release presents statistics compiled from data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) from Australian government and private non-profit (PNP) organisations in the Survey of Research and Experimental Development (R&D). For the government and PNP sectors, the survey is conducted biennially, via mail questionnaire, and based on a single financial year.

2 The reference period for statistics presented in this issue is the financial year ended 30 June 2009. The 2008-09 Survey of R&D, Government and Private non-profit organisations, achieved a response rate of 99.8%.


DEFINITIONS

3 R&D as collected by the ABS is defined in accordance with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standard as 'creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications'. Although outside the economic boundary of R&D as defined by the OECD, R&D performed overseas by Australian organisations is included in these data.

4 For a more comprehensive interpretation of the definition of R&D activity, see the OECD publication The Measurement of Scientific and Technological Activities: Proposed Standard Practice for Surveys on Research and Experimental Development - Frascati Manual 2002 or refer to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008 (cat. no. 1297.0).


FRAME

5 The source of the frame for the Survey of R&D, Government and Private non-profit organisations is the ABS Business Register (ABSBR). The ABSBR records information about statistical units and is used to create the frames for most ABS economic collections.


Statistical units defined on the ABSBR

6 Statistical units are those entities from which statistics are collected, or about which statistics are compiled. In ABS economic statistics, the statistical unit is generally the business (or in the case of this survey, the government or PNP organisation).

7 The ABS uses an economic statistics units model on the ABSBR to describe the characteristics of businesses/organisations, and the structural relationships between related organisations. Within large, complex and diverse businesses/organisations, the units model is also used to define reporting units that can provide data to the ABS at suitable levels of detail.

8 The units model allocates businesses/organisations to one of two sub-populations. The vast majority of businesses/organisations are in what is called the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Maintained Population (ATOMP), while the remaining businesses/organisations are in the ABS Maintained Population (ABSMP). Together these two sub-populations make up the ABSBR population.

9 Most businesses and organisations in Australia need to obtain an Australian Business Number (ABN) and are then included on the whole-of-government register of businesses, the Australian Business Register (ABR), which is maintained by the ATO. Most of these businesses/organisations have simple structures; therefore, the unit registered for an ABN will satisfy ABS statistical requirements. The businesses/organisations with simple structures constitute the ATOMP, and the ABN unit is used as the statistical unit for ABS economic collections.

10 For the population of businesses/organisations where the ABN unit is not suitable for ABS statistical requirements, the ABS maintains its own units structure through direct contact with each business/organisation. These businesses/organisations constitute the ABSMP. This population consists typically of large, complex and diverse businesses/organisations. For businesses/organisations in the ABSMP, statistical units comprise the Enterprise Group, the Enterprise and the Type of Activity Unit (TAU). The range of activities across the Enterprise Group can be very diverse. The TAU represents a grouping of one or more business/organisation entities within the Enterprise that cover all of the operations within an industry subdivision and for which a basic set of financial production and employment data can be reported.

11 Statistical units for the Survey of R&D, Government and Private non-profit organisations consist of ABNs for the ATOMP and TAUs from the ABSMP.

12 The current economic statistics units model was introduced into the ABS in mid 2002, to better use the information available as a result of The New Tax System (TNTS). For more information please refer to the Information Paper: Improvements in ABS Economic Statistics - Arising from the New Tax System, (cat. no. 1372.0).


SCOPE AND COVERAGE

13 The Survey of R&D, Government and Private non-profit organisations, aims to be a complete enumeration of government and PNP organisations with intramural expenditure on R&D during the reference period.

14 Intramural expenditure is defined as expenditure for R&D performed by the statistical unit regardless of the source of funds. Expenditures made outside the statistical unit but in support of intramural R&D are included. For further information, refer to the OECD Frascati Manual 2002.

15 The ABS identifies organisations likely to have had intramural R&D expenditure in the reference period through:

• reported expenditure on R&D in the previous survey; and
• indicated expenditure on R&D via a coverage questionnaire.

• Higher education institutions, e.g. universities (which are included in the ABS Survey of R&D, Higher education organisations).

Gross Domestic Product, current prices
	1998-99	2000-01	2002-03	2004-05	2006-07	2008-09
	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m
GDP	622 695	708 889	804 361	925 864	1 091 327	1 256 118
Source: Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, Mar 2010 (cat. no. 5206.0), released 2 June 2010

Gross State Product, current prices
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m
2006-07	352 162	261 200	209 173	71 725	138 688	21 249	14 339	22 791
2008-09	402 334	291 637	243 901	78 986	169 950	23 176	17 168	25 969
Source: Australian National Accounts, State Accounts, 2008-09 (cat. no. 5220.0). Reissue released 22 December 2009

Research and Experimental Development, Businesses, Australia, 2008-09 (cat. no. 8104.0), to be released 23 September 2010
Research and Experimental Development, All Sector Summary, Australia, 2008-09 (cat. no. 8112.0), to be released 11 October 2010

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008 (cat. no. 1297.0)
Innovation in Australian Business, 2006-07 (cat. no. 8158.0)
Microdata: Business Longitudinal Database, Expanded CURF, Australia, 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 (cat. no. 8168.0.55.001)
Research and Experimental Development, Higher Education Organisations, Australia, 2008 (cat. no. 8111.0)
Selected Characteristics of Australian Businesses, 2007-08 (cat. no. 8167.0)
Summary of IT Use and Innovation in Australian Business, 2008-09 (cat. no. 8166.0)

Main Science and Technology Indicators 2009/2
The Measurement of Scientific and Technological Activities: Proposed Standard Practice for Surveys of Research and Experimental Development - Frascati Manual 2002