8166.0 - Summary of IT Use and Innovation in Australian Business, 2012-13 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/06/2014   
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INNOVATION IN AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS


ABOUT INNOVATION IN AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS STATISTICS

Innovation is generally considered to be the development or introduction of new or significantly improved goods, services, processes or methods. As innovation is often seen as a continuous process and aspects can be intangible, it can be difficult to measure. An international framework, the 'Oslo Manual, Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data', has been developed jointly by Eurostat and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to aid in measuring the process of innovation. This manual, updated in 2005, forms the basis of concepts and definitions used to measure the incidence of innovation by the Business Characteristics Survey (BCS). The BCS collects information about the broad types and status of innovation in Australian business for the 12 month reference period. For more detail about these concepts and definitions, please refer to the Glossary.

More detailed data about innovation in Australian business during 2012-13 will be released in Innovation in Australian Business, 2012-13 (cat. no. 8158.0) on 21 August 2014.

Summary of innovative activity in Australian business(a), key indicators, 2010-11 to 2012-13

2010-11
2011-12
2012-13

Estimated number of businesses(b)
'000
764
776
770
Businesses that introduced any new or significantly improved:(c)
goods or services
%
17.3
20.4
20.0
operational processes
%
16.4
19.1
16.9
organisational/managerial processes
%
18.9
23.0
20.2
marketing methods
%
16.8
19.9
18.8
Businesses that introduced innovation (innovating businesses)
%
33.3
41.3
36.6
Businesses with innovative activity which was:(c)
still in development(d)
%
19.6
24.9
22.8
abandoned
%
2.5
2.4
2.8
Businesses with any innovative activity (innovation-active businesses)
%
39.1
46.6
42.2

(a) Proportions are of all businesses in each output category.
(b) Business counts are provided for contextual information only, and the total may not sum to the total of the components due to rounding. Refer to Explanatory Notes 21 and 22.
(c) Businesses may be counted in more than one category.
(d) As at the end of the reference period 30 June 2013.


INNOVATION-ACTIVE BUSINESSES

Innovation-active businesses are those that undertook any innovative activity during the reference period. This includes businesses that introduced or abandoned any of the four types of innovation during the period, and those that had any of the types of innovation still in development at the end of the period. The proportion of businesses that were innovation-active (i.e. those that undertook any innovative activity) in 2012-13 was 42%, a five percentage point decrease from the previous year.

INNOVATING BUSINESSES

Innovating businesses are those that introduced any of the four types of innovation during the 2012-13 reference period.

Results show almost two in five businesses (37%) had introduced at least one type of innovation during the 2012-13 reference period.

INNOVATION STILL IN DEVELOPMENT

As at 30 June 2013, almost one in four businesses (23%) had some form of innovative activity that was still in development.

ABANDONED INNOVATIVE ACTIVITY

The proportion of businesses that reported abandoning at least one type of innovative activity during the year ended 30 June 2013 was 6%. The rate of abandoned innovative activity has been consistently between 6% and 7% for the past three years.