Research and Experimental Development, Government and Private Non-Profit Organisations, Australia methodology

Original work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge with a specific application in view. It is undertaken either to determine possible uses for the findings of basic research or to determine new ways of achieving some specific and predetermined objectives.

As a source of R&D funding, this includes resources coming from businesses located in Australia, including donations and grants, to specifically support R&D activity.

Expenditure on the acquisition of fixed tangible assets such as land, buildings, vehicles, plant, machinery and equipment which is attributable to R&D activity.

As a source of R&D funding, this includes R&D grants, and payments for R&D projects funded by or carried on behalf of Commonwealth government organisations.

Expenditure on direct labour costs, materials, fuels, rent and hiring, repairs and maintenance, data processing, etc. and the proportion of expenditure on general services and overheads which is attributable to R&D activity.

As a source of R&D funding, this includes research specific donations and bequests from Australian organisations and individuals.

Systematic work, using existing knowledge gained from research or practical experience, which is directed to producing new materials, products, devices, policies, behaviours or outlooks; to installing new processes, systems and services; or to improving substantially those already produced and installed.

The FOR classification allows R&D activity to be categorised according to the methodology used in the R&D, rather than the activity of the unit performing the R&D or the purpose of the R&D. The FOR reflects the field in which the research was undertaken and is based on the processes and techniques used.

The effort of researchers, technicians and other staff directly involved with R&D activity. Overhead staff (e.g. administrative and general service employees such as personnel officers, janitors, etc.) whose work indirectly supports R&D, are excluded.

As a source of R&D funding, this includes R&D funding raised via industry levies.

Expenditure relating to: wages and salaries; overtime earnings; penalty payments; shift allowances; employer contributions into superannuation; fringe benefits and payroll taxes; severance, termination and redundancy payments; workers' compensation premiums/costs; provisions for employee entitlements; salaries and fees of directors and executives; retainers and commissions of persons who received a retainer; bonuses; annual and other types of paid leave.

Expenditure on land, buildings and other structures acquired for R&D purposes including testing grounds, sites for laboratories and pilot plants, landscaping, site preparation works, fit-out costs for new buildings and major improvements and modifications.

The region(s) in which the organisation performed the R&D. This may not be the head office location of the organisation.

Expenditure on office and other equipment (including capitalised computer software licence fees), furnishings, vehicles, plant, machinery and equipment.

All other non-staff expenditures including: materials, fuels and other inputs; rent, leasing and hiring expenses; repair and maintenance expenses; payments to outside organisations for use of specialised testing facilities or for analytical work, engineering or other specialised services in support of R&D projects carried out by the organisation; commission and consultant expenses for research projects carried out by the organisation (except direct labour costs); software for own account produced as part of R&D; and the proportion of expenditure on general services and overheads which is attributable to R&D activity.

Skilled and unskilled employees, secretarial and clerical staff directly associated with R&D activity.

As a source of R&D funding, this includes grants and payments for R&D projects funded by or carried out on behalf of overseas organisations. Transfers from related entities are only included if they specifically relate to R&D being undertaken (by the reporting organisation) on behalf of the related entity.

Includes R&D performed overseas, but controlled by the Australian organisation. This includes analytical work, engineering or other specialised services performed by another organisation which are part of an R&D project being performed by the Australian organisation.

As a source of R&D funding, this includes all funding for R&D sourced from the organisation itself, including equity, borrowings, retained earnings, and non-R&D specific transfers from related entities.

One person year of effort is equal to a full-time employee whose time is wholly devoted to R&D for a whole year.

Experimental and theoretical work undertaken to acquire new knowledge without looking for long term benefits other than the advancement of knowledge.

Systematic investigation or experimentation involving innovation or technical risk, the outcome of which is new knowledge, with or without a specific practical application, or new or improved products, processes, materials, devices or services. R&D activity extends to modifications to existing products/processes. R&D activity ceases and pre-production begins when work is no longer experimental.

Those involved with the conception and/or development of new products/processes (e.g. executives and directors involved in the planning or management of scientific and technical aspects of R&D projects, and software developers/programmers). They exclude executives and directors concerned primarily with budgets and human resources rather than project content.

The SEO classification allows R&D activity to be categorised according to the intended purpose or outcome of the research, rather than the processes or techniques used in order to achieve this objective. The SEO reflects the dominant beneficiary or beneficiaries of the research output.

As a source of R&D funding, this includes R&D grants, and payments for R&D projects funded by or carried out on behalf of state and local government organisations.

Experimental and theoretical work undertaken to acquire new knowledge directed into specified broad areas in the expectation of practical discoveries. It provides the broad base of knowledge necessary for the solution of recognised practical problems.

Those performing technical tasks in support of R&D activity, normally under the direction and supervision of a researcher. These tasks include preparation of experiments, taking records, preparation of charts and graphs, etc.

This classification allows R&D activity to be categorised according to the type of research effort, namely, pure basic research, strategic basic research, applied research, and experimental development.

Statistics presented in this release have been compiled from data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) from Australian government and private non-profit organisations in the Survey of Research and Experimental Development (R&D), Government and Private Non-Profit Organisations. The data were collected under the authority of the Census and Statistics Act 1905.

For information about the institutional environment of the ABS, including its legislative obligations, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.

This release presents statistics on R&D undertaken by Australian government and private non-profit organisations in respect of the 2016-17 financial year.

R&D statistics produced by the ABS enable the nature and distribution of R&D activity in Australia to be monitored and analysed for policy formulation, allocation of funds and determination of research priorities.

Since the release of the 2008-09 Australian System of National Accounts, R&D has been treated as capital formation. This resulted from the implementation of the new international standards System of National Accounts, 2008 (2008 SNA) and represents a change in treatment of R&D (as intermediate consumption) from SNA 1993.

The ABS aims to produce high quality data from its research and experimental development collections, while minimising the reporting burden on government and private non-profit organisations. To achieve this, extensive effort is put into survey and questionnaire design, collection procedures and processing.

The Survey of R&D, Government and Private Non-Profit Organisations is a census of in-scope organisations (refer to the Scope and Coverage section of the Explanatory Notes). The survey achieved a response rate of 99.8%.

For information about non-sampling errors, please refer to the Technical Note on the Methodology page.

There are no other data sources with which ABS R&D data for the government and private non-profit sectors can be directly compared. However, some observations can be made which suggest the survey outputs give a reasonable indication of real world expectations and events. For example, trends are expected to broadly reflect changes in budget allocations as well as government policy relating to R&D funding, particularly for research based organisations.

While the ABS seeks to maximise consistency and comparability over time by minimising changes to the survey, sound survey practice requires ongoing development to maintain the integrity of the data, its relevance to the changing needs of users and the efficiency of the collection.

In addition to non-sampling errors and revisions, another factor which may affect the comparability of 2016-17 estimates with those of previous cycles is described below:

• From the 2008 cycle, Type of activity, Fields of Research and Socio-economic Objective data have been collected and compiled based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008 (cat. no. 1297.0). Prior to this, data were based on the Australian Standard Research Classification (ASRC). The implementation of updated classifications in the 2000-01 and 2008-09 reference periods represent breaks in the relevant time series.
   

R&D, as collected by the ABS, is defined in accordance with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standard as "creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge - including knowledge of humankind, culture and society - and to devise new applications of available knowledge".

The Survey of R&D, Government and Private Non-Profit Organisations also uses classifications specific to R&D: results presented in this release are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008 (cat. no. 1297.0).

Data providers report and self classify R&D survey information based on their interpretation of OECD and ABS definitions and classifications. The ABS makes every effort to ensure correct and consistent interpretation and reporting of these data by applying consistent processing methodologies. See the Non-Sampling Error section of the Technical Note for further information.

Further important contextual information, to be considered when interpreting the results presented in this release, is provided in the Explanatory Notes (including the Technical Note and Glossary).

Additionally, for a more comprehensive interpretation of the definitions and classifications relating to R&D activity, refer to:

• the OECD publication Frascati Manual 2015: Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research and Experimental Development; and
• the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008 (cat. no. 1297.0)
   

In addition to the information provided on the Topic page (which include key findings commentary) resulting from the Survey of R&D, Government and Private Non-Profit Organisations, detailed data (in spreadsheet format) are included on the ABS website free of charge. Refer to the Data downloads section for these data.

If the information you require is not available as a standard product, inquiries can be made by contacting the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.