INNOVATION IN AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS
ABOUT INNOVATION IN AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS STATISTICS
Innovation is generally considered to be the development or introduction of new or significantly improved goods, services, processes or methods. As innovation is often seen as a continuous process and aspects can be intangible, it can be difficult to measure. An international framework, the 'Oslo Manual, Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data', has been developed jointly by Eurostat and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to aid in measuring the process of innovation. This manual, updated in 2005, forms the basis of concepts and definitions used to measure the incidence of innovation by the Business Characteristics Survey (BCS). The BCS collects information about the broad types and status of innovation in Australian business for the 12 month reference period. For more detail about these concepts and definitions, please refer to the Glossary.
More detailed data about innovation in Australian business during 2013-14 will be released in Selected Characteristics of Australian Business, 2013-14 (cat. no. 8167.0) on 20 August 2015.
Summary of innovative activity in Australian business(a), key indicators, 2011-12 to 2013-14 |
|
 | | | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 |
|
| Estimated number of businesses(b) | '000 | 776 | 770 | 757 |
| Businesses that introduced any new or significantly improved:(c) | | | | |
| goods or services | % | 20.4 | 20.0 | 24.1 |
| operational processes | % | 19.1 | 16.9 | 17.9 |
| organisational/managerial processes | % | 23.0 | 20.2 | 21.7 |
| marketing methods | % | 19.9 | 18.8 | 20.3 |
| Businesses that introduced innovation (innovating businesses) | % | 41.3 | 36.6 | 42.5 |
| Businesses with innovative activity which was:(c) | | | | |
| still in development(d) | % | 24.9 | 22.8 | 24.7 |
| abandoned | % | 6.9 | 5.9 | 8.4 |
| Businesses with any Innovative activity (innovation-active businesses) | % | 46.6 | 42.2 | 48.3 |
|
| (a) Proportions are of all businesses in each output category. |
| (b) Business counts are provided for contextual information only, and the total may not sum to the total of the components due to rounding. 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 2014. |
Innovation-active businesses are those that undertook any innovative activity during the reference period. This includes businesses that introduced or abandoned any of the four types of innovation during the period, and those that had any of the types of innovation still in development at the end of the period. The proportion of businesses that were innovation-active (i.e. those that undertook any innovative activity) in 2013-14 was 48%, a six percentage point increase from the previous year.
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