Index rates innovation in Australian industry
[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 1, No. 5
14 - 28 May 2007 ] By Laura A’Bell
The IBM-Melbourne Institute Innovation Index is the first inter-industry, multi-indicator study to measure the rate of innovative activity in Australia.
IBM Australia and the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research have launched an Innovation Index of Australian Industry.
The IBM-Melbourne Institute Innovation Index of Australian Industry’s inaugural study analyses key economic data to provide a measurable rating of Australia’s innovation activity by industry since 1990.
The Innovation Index, which fills a gap in current innovation research, was conceived by IBM Australia and has been developed by Melbourne Institute researchers.
Claimed to be the first study to reflect the complex nature of innovation via an inter-industry, multi-indicator analysis approach, the Index measures how local industry innovates in providing products and services.
Contributors to industry innovation are addressed by analysing innovation intensity across six key data groups – research and development, patenting, trade marking, design, organisational/managerial transformation, and productivity.
Innovation trends are captured across 13 categories of Australian industry – as defined by ANZSIC (Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification) – over a period of 15 years since 1990.
Tracking the evolving innovation performance of the Australian economy is expected to provide business leaders, analysts and policy makers with a rigorous and insightful new measure to assess industry and national economic performance.
IBM Australia and New Zealand CEO Glen Boreham says the Innovation Index embodies IBM’s commitment and investment to innovation and the prosperity of the Australian economy in a globally competitive market.
“There is no doubt that Australia’s industry leaders are embracing innovation to drive growth. However, according to the results of the Innovation Index there is the potential for much more to be done.
“Our hope is that by empowering local industry leaders with the necessary information we can, together, have a more informed debate and build Australia’s global economic future on a path of successful and competitive innovation.”
Melbourne Institute Senior Research Fellow Dr Paul Jensen, says: “Innovation is one of those concepts that everyone – from economists to business strategists, and politicians to policymakers – embraces with vigour since it is well-known that innovation is critical for productivity growth and economic prosperity.
“However, it is a difficult concept to measure. The Innovation Index tackles this issue head-on using a rigorous and transparent methodology and mix of subjective and objective data. The result is an impressive Index of the rate of change of innovative activity across all Australian industries over a 16 year period”.
More details: uninews.unimelb.edu.au/articleid_4187.html
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