PRIVATE NON-PROFIT RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT (R&D)


PRIVATE NON-PROFIT RESOURCES DEVOTED TO RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT (R&D)

Expenditure on R&D performed by Australian private non-profit (PNP) organisations during the 2012-13 financial year was $961 million. Human resources devoted to R&D by PNP organisations totalled 5,678 person years of effort (PYE).

PNP RESOURCES DEVOTED TO R&D
			2002-03	2004-05	2006-07	2008-09	2011-12(a)	2012-13
Expenditure on R&D
	Current prices	$m	360	479	609	744	r944	961
	Chain volume measures(b)	$m	486	612	726	798	944	903
Human resources devoted to R&D		PYE	3 117	3 845	4 575	4 788	r5 256	5 678
r revised
(a) There was no survey conducted for the 2010-11 financial year. See Explanatory Note 3 for details.
(b) The reference year for chain volume measures is 2011-12. See Explanatory Notes 30 and 31 for details.

Between 2011-12 and 2012-13, private non-profit expenditure on R&D (PNPERD) increased by 2% in current price terms. Conversely, it decreased by 4% in chain volume terms.

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


PNPERD and Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

In 2011-12 and 2012-13, PNPERD as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was almost unchanged at approximately 0.06%.

TYPE OF EXPENDITURE

PNPERD was comprised of $885 million (92%) in Current expenditure and $75 million (8%) in Capital expenditure in 2012-13. Labour costs ($506 million) remained the largest component of Current expenditure in 2012-13, and recorded the largest increase in PNPERD, up $51 million (11%) from 2011-12.


SOURCE OF FUNDS

In 2012-13, PNP organisations mainly performed R&D using funds provided by Commonwealth government ($376 million or 39% of total PNPERD), as well as their own funds ($228 million or 24%).

Of all sources of funds, Commonwealth government recorded the largest dollar increase from 2011-12, up $16 million (4%).

Own funds recorded the largest dollar decrease of $18 million (8%) between 2011-12 and 2012-13.


LOCATION OF EXPENDITURE

Location of expenditure relates to the region in which R&D activity was performed; see also Explanatory Note 27.

In 2012-13, Victoria ($448 million) and New South Wales ($353 million) together accounted for 83% of PNPERD.

South Australia and Victoria recorded the largest dollar increases in PNPERD from 2011-12, up $17 million (120%) and $16 million (4%), respectively.

New South Wales recorded the largest dollar decrease of $23 million (6%) between 2011-12 and 2012-13.

PNPERD and Gross State Product (GSP)

In 2012-13, PNPERD as a proportion of Gross State Product (GSP) was highest for Victoria at 0.13%.

PNPERD, by location of expenditure - proportion of GSP(a)
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
2011-12	0.08	0.13	0.01	0.02	0.02	np	0.05	np
2012-13	0.07	0.13	0.01	0.03	0.02	np	0.05	np
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) See Explanatory Note 28 for details.

TYPE OF ACTIVITY

In 2012-13, Applied research ($347 million or 36%) and Strategic basic research ($334 million or 35%) together accounted for almost three quarters (71%) of PNPERD.

Compared to 2011-12, the largest increase in PNPERD was recorded by Strategic basic research, up $22 million (7%).

Experimental development was the only type of activity to record a decrease in PNPERD between 2011-12 and 2012-13, down $22 million (10%).


FIELDS OF RESEARCH (FOR)

Medical and health sciences ($749 million) was the largest FOR for PNP organisations in 2012-13, accounting for more than three quarters (78%) of total PNPERD. The next largest FOR was Biological sciences, with $77 million or 8% of total PNPERD.

The largest dollar increase in PNPERD among FOR was recorded by Psychology and cognitive sciences, which increased fourfold between 2011-12 and 2012-13 (up $14 million).


SOCIO-ECONOMIC OBJECTIVE (SEO)

The majority of PNPERD (86%) was directed to the SEO of Health ($824 million) in 2012-13. Education and training was the next largest SEO, with $56 million or 6% of total PNPERD.

Environment (up $6 million or 54%) and Manufacturing (up $4 million or 20%) recorded the largest dollar increases among SEOs between 2011-12 and 2012-13.


PNP HUMAN RESOURCES DEVOTED TO R&D

PNP organisations devoted 5,678 person years of effort (PYE) to R&D in 2012-13, an increase of 422 PYE (8%) from 2011-12.

All types of resources recorded increases in PYE between 2011-12 and 2012-13, with Researchers up 195 PYE (6%), Other staff up 182 PYE (23%), and Technicians up 45 PYE (4%).

Researchers remained the largest type of resource in 2012-13, accounting for 60% of total PNP human resources devoted to R&D.