SOURCES OF IDEAS AND INFORMATION FOR INNOVATION


Innovation-active businesses were asked to indicate where they had sourced ideas and information for innovation. Businesses could select more than one source and a ranking of importance was not required.

Sources of ideas or information for innovation(a)(b), by employment size, 2012-13
	0-4 persons	5-19 persons	20-199 persons	200 or more persons	Total
	%	%	%	%	%
Within the business or related company	55.0	61.7	68.0	88.9	59.4
Clients, customers or buyers	42.2	36.8	46.0	34.3	40.5
Suppliers	25.1	26.8	31.6	24.0	26.5
Competitors and other businesses from the same industry	27.8	31.1	35.5	32.7	30.1
Consultants	15.6	20.6	29.4	35.7	19.4
Universities or other higher education institutions	3.1	2.8	2.7	6.4	3.0
Government agencies	2.8	2.1	5.4	11.0	2.9
Private non-profit research institutions	1.4	np	1.1	1.3	0.9
Commercial laboratories/research and development enterprises	1.0	0.9	1.3	2.0	1.0
Websites, journals, research papers, publications	31.5	27.7	28.5	21.8	29.6
Professional conferences, seminars, meetings, trade shows	20.7	25.3	26.7	28.6	23.3
Industry associations	16.5	15.9	24.0	18.8	17.2
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) Proportions are of innovation-active businesses in each output category.
(b) Businesses that were innovation-active were asked for the sources of ideas or information for innovation. Businesses could identify more than one source.

Innovation-active businesses were most likely to source their ideas and information for the development of innovation from within the business or related company (59%). The proportion of businesses identifying this as a source ranged from 55% for businesses with 0-4 persons employed to almost 90% of businesses with 200 or more persons employed. Clients, customers or buyers were the second most likely source, at 40%.

Businesses with 200 or more persons employed were more than twice as likely to source ideas or information for innovation from consultants (36%), universities or other higher education institutions (6%) and government agencies (11%) as businesses with 0-4 persons employed (16%, 3% and 3% respectively).

By industry, the sources of ideas or information for innovation that came from within the business or related company ranged from 39% of businesses in the Agriculture, forestry and fishing industry to 79% of businesses in the Information media and telecommunications industry. Consultants were most likely to be identified as a source of ideas by businesses in the Mining industry (42%), while businesses in the Accommodation and food services industry were the most likely to have sourced ideas or information from competitors and other businesses from the same industry, at 41%.