Backing Australia’s Ability is the largest and most highly coordinated package of measures ever provided by an Australian Government to support science and innovation. Individual programmes that comprise Backing Australia’s Ability are administered by a range of agencies and programme areas. The Science and Innovation Analysis Team coordinates the overall monitoring of the complete Backing Australia’s Ability package.
The Science and Innovation Analysis Team is also responsible for the production of the annual Australian Government’s Innovation Report, which has a particular focus on Backing Australia’s Ability initiatives.
Further information regarding these initiatives is available on the Backing Australia’s Ability website. 
Publications
Backing Australia's Ability - the Strategy Document
Backing Australia's Ability: The Australian Government's Innovation Report
CONTACT:
Enquiries relating to
Backing Australia’s Ability, including requests for copies of the Innovation Report, should be directed to:
BackingAusAbility@dest.gov.au Setting priorities provides a vision of where research can contribute to Australia’s future prosperity and well being, and will help to align our national research effort in these key areas. National research priorities will enhance the quality and impact of our research effort by building critical mass in these areas and by promoting collaboration between research organisations and with industry.
Australia’s National Research Priorities were announced by the Prime Minister in late 2002 and were enhanced and refined in 2003 to take greater account of the contributions of the social sciences and humanities research. The National Research Priorities are thematic and are underpinned by ‘priority goals’. The four themes are:
- An Environmentally Sustainable Australia;
- Promoting and Maintaining Good Health;
- Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries; and
- Safeguarding Australia.
A National Research Priority (NRP) Standing Committee was established in February 2005.
The Science and Innovation Analysis Team provides Secretariat duties for the Standing Committee. Amongst other things, this Committee will assess agency progress in implementation of the NRPs and report to the government on that progress.
The Standing Committee is chaired by the Chief Scientist and provides feedback to NRP-reporting agencies about their:
- revised NRP implementation plans;
- NRP-Implementation Progress Reports for 2004; and
- decisions on future reporting arrangements.
Further information can be found on the
NRPs page.
The Science and Innovation Analysis Team monitors and analyses information regarding the structure, trends and performance of Australia’s science and innovation system, including statistics on:
- National investment in science and innovation;
- Government Support for science and innovation;
- Research and experiment development (R&D);
- Human resources in science and technology;
- Scientific and technological output;
- International collaboration;
- Technological diffusion;
- Innovation in business;
- Commercialisation of publicly funded research; and
- Impact on economic competitiveness and quality of life.
Information is drawn from a number of sources including the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) databases on Research and Development; Innovation; and Human Resources in Selected Qualifications and Occupations, the OECD database on Science and Technology Indicators, Commonwealth Science and Innovation Budget information, ISI database on National Science Indicators, CHI Research’s database on International Technology Indicators and many others.
Publications
Australian Science and Technology at a Glance 2006 - This pocket-sized booklet is published annually by the Department to provide a handy reference source of statistics on science and innovation. In the 2006 edition, the Department has continued to apply an input-output-impact framework to organise a balanced range of indicators showing the overall structure, trends and performance of the Australian science and innovation system.
Australian Science and Innovation System – A Statistical Snapshot 2006 - This online publication, first introduced in 2003, has been expanded and updated. It is designed to serve as a user-friendly online data source to meet the needs of those users who require more quantitative and factual information relevant to the Australian science and innovation system. This edition includes over 300 charts and tables providing the latest information on the trends over the last two decades and international benchmarking of the key components of the Australian science and innovation system, in particular relating to its funding, resources and performance.
Definitions and Methodological Notes – Statistics on Science and Innovation 2006 - This online publication, first introduced in 2004, has been revised and expanded. The new edition provides more comprehensive information on the main terminologies, methodologies and data sources in science and innovation statistics to assist users in analysing and interpreting indicators and the data presented in our statistical publications.
Previous Years Reports
CONTACT:
Enquiries regarding science and innovation statistics and publications should be directed to:
scienceanalysis@dest.gov.au
The Science and Innovation Analysis Team is responsible for preparing and publishing on the Department’s internet site the annual science and innovation budget information and for maintaining an overview of the Commonwealth’s outlays on science and innovation including Backing Australia’s Ability.
2007-2008 Budget - Science and Innovation Budget Tables
The previous budget tables are also available.
The performance of the Australian science and innovation system is essential to our economic growth and future prosperity. Professor Dowrick at the Australian National University presents a review of statistical studies of the relationship between R&D and economic growth at the firm, industry and national level.
A Review of the Evidence on Science, R&D and Productivity
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
The ABS website has information on the latest statistics on expenditure devoted to research and development carried out by business, government and private non-profit organisations, higher education and includes an 'All Sector Summary' analysis.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
The OECD website provides information on science and technology indicators and analysis in working papers and other OECD reports. These include the Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard and the Science, Technology and Industry Outlook.
Mapping Australia’s Science and Innovation System
On 20 November 2002, the Prime Minister identified science and technology as a vital area of Government strategic policy interest. He announced that the then Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Dr Brendan Nelson, was to undertake the major initiative of mapping Australia’s science and innovation activities across the public and private sectors. Further information on the initiative, including a full report is available from the Mapping Australia's Science and Innovation System page.