Support for new ABS innovation survey, Dec 2003

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Support for new ABS innovation survey


The ABS will be conducting a business innovation survey in respect of 2003, and every second year following. The survey form will be sent to selected businesses in February 2004 and results will be released in late 2004.

The survey is in response to strong demand for updated and internationally comparable statistics covering technological and non-technological innovation, because of the role of innovation in increasing productivity and growth.

The survey is being developed with the financial support from the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources (DITR) and the Department of Education, Science and Technology (DEST). Both DITR and DEST will be contributing financially to the cost of developing and running the new survey, supplementing the contribution made by the ABS. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for this support will be signed today. The involvement of these prominent policy departments shows the importance of this survey to policy setting.

A key feature of this new survey will be the linking of innovative activity with performance and productivity measures, to determine the micro and macro economic effects of innovation. This will aid the process of better targeting policy settings for industry development. Specifically, the survey will provide information on:
  • The proportion and characteristics of businesses that are innovating (i.e. introducing new products, operational processes and organisational/managerial processes);
  • The types of innovations occurring;
  • The links between technological and organisational change;
  • The extent of cooperative linkages of businesses with other organisations; and
  • The costs of innovation.

The ABS appreciates the contribution that businesses will make in providing innovation data through this survey, which will provide a significant contribution to the knowledge in this important field.