8109.0 - Research and Experimental Development, Government and Private Non-Profit Organisations, Australia, 2006-07 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 29/07/2008   
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Contents >> Government R&D >> Government expenditure on R&D

EXPENDITURE ON R&D

Expenditure by government organisations on R&D (GOVERD) in 2006-07 was $2,954.1 million. GOVERD increased by 19% in current price terms and 10% in chain volume terms from 2004-05. (See paragraph 18 of the Explanatory Notes for information regarding the interpretation of chain volume measures.)

GOVERNMENT RESOURCES DEVOTED TO R&D(a)
1996-97
1998-99
2000-01
2002-03
2004-05
2006-07
Expenditure on R&D - Current prices
Commonwealth $m
1 267
1 179
1 405
1 531
r1 544
1 893
State/territory $m
798
864
951
951
r942
1 061
Total $m
2 064
2 043
2 356
2 482
r2 486
2 954
Expenditure on R&D - Chain volume measures(b)
Commonwealth $m
1 659
1 430
1 652
1 705
1 600
1 823
State/territory $m
1 048
1 055
1 124
1 062
977
1 018
Total $m
2 706
2 484
2 775
2 767
2 577
2 840
Human resources devoted to R&D
Commonwealth PYE
10 377
9 353
9 565
10 185
r9 368
9 110
State/territory PYE
8 813
9 069
8 587
8 357
r7 320
7 228
Total PYE
19 190
18 422
18 151
18 542
r16 687
16 338
r revised
(a) Refer to the Revisions section of the Technical Note regarding comparability of estimates over time.
(b) The reference year for chain volume measures is 2005-06.


Over the ten years to 2006-07, GOVERD increased at a two-yearly rate of 9% in current price terms and 1% in chain volume terms.

Government Expenditure on R&D(a)
Graph: Government Expenditure on R&D(a)


Subsequent expenditure figures and supporting commentary relate to current price terms.


Proportion of GDP

In 2006-07, GOVERD as a proportion of GDP remained steady from 2004-05 at 0.28%. Australia's GOVERD/GDP ratio continued to be above the OECD average of 0.26% for 2006-07.

GOVERD AS A PROPORTION OF GDP(a)(b)
Graph: GOVERD AS A PROPORTION OF GDP(a)(b)


The following table shows GOVERD/GDP ratios for selected OECD countries.

GOVERD/GDP RATIOS OF SELECTED OECD COUNTRIES(a)
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
%
%
%
%
%
Iceland
0.73
0.70
na
0.66
na
France
0.37
0.36
0.37
0.37
0.37
Korea
0.34
0.33
0.34
0.35
0.37
Germany
0.34
0.34
0.34
0.35
0.35
Finland
0.35
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.32
New Zealand
na
0.33
na
0.30
na
United States of America
0.32
0.33
0.32
0.31
0.29
Japan
0.30
0.30
0.30
0.28
0.28
Australia
0.32
na
0.28
na
0.28
Czech Republic
0.28
0.29
0.26
0.26
0.27
Hungary
0.33
0.29
0.26
0.26
0.25
Netherlands
0.24
0.25
0.26
0.24
0.24
Norway
0.26
0.26
0.25
0.24
0.24
Poland
0.25
0.22
0.22
0.21
0.21
Spain
0.15
0.16
0.17
0.19
0.20
Italy
0.20
0.19
0.20
0.19
0.19
Luxembourg
0.16
0.17
0.18
0.19
0.19
Canada
0.21
0.19
0.18
0.20
0.18
United Kingdom
0.17
0.18
0.18
0.19
0.18
Sweden
na
0.13
0.11
0.18
0.17
Denmark
0.18
0.18
0.17
0.16
0.16
Slovak Republic
0.15
0.18
0.16
0.15
0.16
Belgium
0.14
0.13
0.14
0.15
0.16
Austria
0.12
na
0.11
0.12
0.13
Portugal
0.14
0.12
0.12
0.12
na
Greece
na
0.12
0.11
0.12
0.12
Mexico
0.11
0.11
0.11
0.11
na
Ireland
0.10
0.09
0.09
0.09
0.09
Turkey
0.05
0.06
0.05
0.09
0.09
Switzerland
0.03
na
0.03
na
0.02
Total OECD
0.27
0.27
0.27
0.27
0.26
na not available
(a) Ranked by most recent GOVERD/GDP ratio.
Source: Main Science and Technology Indicators, 2008/1, OECD, Paris, 2008



Level of government

Expenditure on R&D by Commonwealth government organisations increased by 23% from 2004-05 to $1,893.4 million in 2006-07. Over the same period, expenditure by State and territory government organisations increased by 13% to $1,060.6 million.


Type of expenditure

Growth in GOVERD between 2004-05 and 2006-07 was mainly due to a 15% ($346.6 million) increase in Current expenditure. This in turn was driven by a 27% ($236.6 million) increase in Other current expenditure. While Current expenditure dominated the overall GOVERD growth, R&D related Capital expenditure shows a much larger percentage increase from 2004-05 (74%).


Source of funds

As in previous years, the majority of GOVERD in 2006-07 was sourced from Own funds (71% or $2,087.7 million). The next largest source of R&D funds was Other commonwealth government ($268.8 million or 9%).


Location of expenditure

Locations in Victoria and New South Wales recorded the highest levels of GOVERD in 2006-07 ($723.4 million and $674.2 million respectively). New South Wales recorded the highest growth in dollar terms since 2004-05 (up $131.2 million), followed by Victoria (up $128.0 million).

GOVERD, by selected locations(a)
Graph: GOVERD, by selected locations(a)


South Australia had the highest increase in GOVERD as a proportion of gross state product (GSP) from 2004-05. The Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia experienced decreases in their GOVERD/GSP ratios.

GOVERD AS A PROPORTION OF GSP(a), by location
NSW
Vic.
Qld
SA
WA
Tas.
NT
ACT
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
2004-05
Commonwealth
0.09
0.18
0.10
0.39
0.08
0.65
0.18
1.40
State/territory
0.09
0.08
0.15
0.17
0.10
0.02
0.13
0.02
Total
0.18
0.26
0.24
0.56
0.18
0.67
0.31
1.42
2006-07
Commonwealth
0.11
0.20
0.10
0.41
0.07
0.65
0.13
1.42
State/territory
0.09
0.09
0.11
0.20
0.09
0.05
0.14
0.02
Total
0.20
0.29
0.21
0.61
0.16
0.70
0.26
1.44
(a) See paragraph 2 of the Explanatory Notes for details.



Type of activity

In 2006-07, more than half of GOVERD was directed into Applied research (57% or $1,676.0 million) and over a quarter into Strategic basic research (28% or $824.7 million). The distribution of GOVERD across type of activity was largely unchanged from 2004-05.


Research field

Consistent with 2004-05, the Research fields accounting for the largest share of GOVERD in 2006-07 were Agricultural, veterinary and environmental sciences (29% or $849.9 million) and Engineering and technology (17% or $493.4 million). Since 2004-05, Medical and health sciences recorded the largest dollar increase in GOVERD, rising by $91.9 million.


Socio-economic objective (SEO)

In 2006-07, the amount of GOVERD directed into the Economic development (45% or $1,342.8 million) was more than double that of any other SEO division. This is consistent with previous years. Accounting for the next largest shares of GOVERD, were Environment and Society SEO divisions at 20% (or $606.0 million) and 18% (or $537.1 million) respectively.



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