Australia · Commercialisation
Where Australian businesses spent A$24.4 billion on R&D
Australian business R&D reached A$24.41 billion in 2023 to 2024. Professional, scientific and technical services accounted for about 38% of the total and supplied most of the increase over two years.
Sources checked
The three largest industries together accounted for 72.5% of the national business total.
Technical services widened the lead
Professional, scientific and technical services spent A$9.171 billion, up from A$6.972 billion in 2021 to 2022. That increase accounted for about 58% of the A$3.768 billion increase across all businesses. Manufacturing was the second-largest spender, at A$5.047 billion, with a decline of about 3%. Source 1
Mining and wholesale grew quickly
Mining added A$333 million and wholesale trade added A$273 million. In percentage terms, both grew faster than the national current-price increase of 18%. Their combined spending remained below financial and insurance services, which reached A$3.479 billion. Source 1
One company can do several kinds of research
The industry table groups spending by the business doing the work. A separate table groups it by field of research, so a bank or manufacturer can contribute to computing research. Information and computing sciences made up about 42% of spending in that second classification. Source 1
Inflation changes the growth comparison
The increase was about 18% in current dollars. In the Bureau’s inflation-adjusted series it was about 10%, from A$22.141 billion to A$24.410 billion. The 2023 to 2024 financial year is the reference year for that series. Source 1