The Australian Innovation Statistics tracks the conditions for creating and adopting new technologies and knowledge in Australia, and their impacts on economic productivity.
The AIS includes user-friendly data dashboards tracking 33 core innovation metrics. Together they provide a concise picture of Australia’s innovation system.
The dashboards allow users to explore the key enabling factors of innovation around domestic business environment, collaboration, skills, international trade, research and development expenditure. These factors combine to deliver innovation outcomes, including innovation creation, diffusion and productivity growth.
The dashboards draw on multiple data sources, including the Australian Government’s Science, Research and Innovation (SRI) Budget Tables.
The AIS also presents ‘Innovation Insights’ drawing out key observations. This edition includes analysis on the state of Australian innovation in 2024 and key trends in the 2024-25 SRI Budget tables.
The report shows:
- Business innovation has increased despite challenging economic conditions. 45.7% of Australian businesses engaged in innovative activities in 2022-23, the highest number this decade, excluding a pandemic surge. This places Australia seventh out of 39 countries in the latest OECD innovation survey.
- Australian Government investments in R&D have also increased, up 4.7% to $14.4 billion in 2024-25.
- Diffusion, rather than idea creation, is the dominant model of Australian innovation. 94.8% of implemented innovations were existing, rather than ‘new to the world’ innovations. However, world-first innovations increased in 2022-23 (up from 4.7% in the previous year).
- Private sector investment in critical areas such as software, machinery and R&D has declined or is experiencing low growth.
- Skills acquisition, and matching businesses with sources of finance, remain the most common barriers to innovation for businesses.
The findings will inform the Australian Government’s policy agenda, including a strategic examination of the R&D system to find out how we can encourage greater investment in this area.
The framework draws on findings of our department’s 2022 Innovation Metrics Review, the Productivity Commission’s 2023 inquiry on innovation and recent publications from Industry Innovation and Science Australia.
The AIS will be updated regularly by the Office of the Chief Economist.