8167.0 - Selected Characteristics of Australian Business, 2010-11 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 13/09/2012   
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BUSINESS INNOVATION


INTRODUCTION

As indicated in the Explanatory Notes, the Business Characteristics Survey (BCS) collects key indicators of IT use and innovation in Australian business annually and more detailed information for each of these topics is collected every second year (i.e. in alternating years). The 2010-11 BCS had a focus on innovation and detailed outputs for the incidence of innovation and associated practices were released in Innovation in Australian Business, 2010-11 (cat. no. 8158.0) in August 2012. Therefore, only a small amount of summary data are included here and users are advised to view the dedicated innovation release for detailed outputs, including additional data cubes. For further details on defining innovation see Explanatory Notes 18 and 19.

In addition to the statistics released in Innovation in Australian Business, 2010-11 (cat. no. 8158.0), this release contains for many of the topics presented, output cross-classified by innovator status; please refer to the individual topics to access these data.

Summary of innovative activity in Australian business(a), key indicators, 2009 - 10 and 2010 - 11

2009-10
2010-11

Estimated number of businesses(b) '000
776
764
Businesses which introduced any new or significantly improved:(c)
goods or services %
19.8
17.3
operational processes %
16.9
16.4
organisational/managerial processes %
20.7
18.9
marketing methods %
16.7
16.8
Businesses which introduced innovation (innovating businesses) %
38.6
33.3
Businesses with innovative activity which was:(c)
still in development(d) %
19.9
19.6
abandoned %
7.3
5.7
Businesses with any innovative activity (innovation-active businesses) %
43.8
39.1

(a) Proportions are of all businesses in each output category.
(b) Business counts are provided for contextual information only. Refer to Explanatory Notes 20 and 21.
(c) Businesses may be counted in more than one category.
(d) As at the end of the reference period 30 June 2011.



INNOVATION-ACTIVE BUSINESSES

The proportion of businesses which were innovation-active (i.e. those which undertook any innovative activity) in 2010-11 was 39%, a decrease of five percentage points from the previous year.


INNOVATING BUSINESSES

During the year ended 30 June 2011, 33% of Australian businesses reported introducing at least one type of innovation, a decrease of six percentage points from the previous year.