Businesses spent 15 per cent more on research and development (R&D) during 2007—08 compared with the previous year, according to statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
R&D business expenditure rose to $14,380 million during the period. The minister for innovation, science and research, Senator Kim Carr, said the expenditure rise is positive for local industry.
“It is good to see strong growth in business spending on R&D, especially after the setback of the late 1990s, when policy changes by the Howard Government caused spending to decline for the first time since records began,” Carr said.
However, Carr said that the period between 2007 and 2008 was a boom year, and it would be “difficult to maintain momentum” through the current global recession.
Carr suggested that the Government’s new R&D Tax Credit would boost investment and strengthen the Australian industry.
“Now is the time to cement the gains in investment that flowed in the boom times and that is what the Rudd Government is doing,” he said.
“The Government’s new R&D Tax Credit will boost investment, support jobs and strengthen Australian companies so that they can take advantage of opportunities as the economy recovers.
“The Credit will provide more predictable, more generous and better-targeted incentives, doubling the base level of support for small business and increasing the base level of support for all other businesses by a third.”