Innovation Metrics Framework - Consolidated Report 

In December 2009, the Department released the Innovation Metrics Framework. The project was initiated
by the Department in response to recommendations of the Review of the National Innovation System undertaken in 2008. The Review emphasised the complex nature of the innovation process and recommended that adequate innovation metrics and program evaluation methodologies be developed as a matter of priority. The objectives of the project are consistent with the Australian Government’s commitment to adopt an evidence-based approach to policy development.

The Innovation Metrics Framework is intended to provide government officers with a framework for systematically integrating the diverse information on innovation and applying the lessons within a policy environment. In particular, the framework aims to:

• develop an understanding of the limitations of current measures and identify principles for developing indicators that better capture the role and linkages of the different entities within the innovation system;
  
  
• identify methods for achieving consistent program data collection, with the aim of encouraging program managers to consider strategically the data needs for future program evaluation and policy research; and
  
  
• develop an understanding of how information on innovation derived from conceptually distinct sources relate to one another and how to meaningfully integrate them for policy development.

The Innovation Metrics Framework comprises four project modules:

Project I - Innovation Metrics for Australia

This project has been undertaken by Mr Anthony Arundel (UNU-MERIT/University of Tasmania) and Mr Kieran O’Brien (University of Tasmania). 

The project critically reviews how existing innovation indicators are used and proposes new indicators to better reflect the concept of innovation flows and the relationship between components of the innovation system, with particular application to Australia. The project provides worked examples to enable proposed indicators to be tested.

Project II - Productivity, Innovation and Economic Growth

This project has been undertaken by Professor Peter Robertson (University of Western Australia) on behalf of UNSW Global, University of New South Wales.

The project discusses the interpretation of conventional productivity measures in an innovation context as well as addresses some common misconceptions about productivity measures. Innovation and R&D are defined in accordance with the Oslo and Frascati Manuals, respectively.

Project III – Programme-Level Data Collection and Evaluation

This project has been undertaken by Mr Bill Pattinson (Pattinson Consulting).

The objective of this project is to propose methodologies for the consistent definition, collection and quality control of program administration data to improve their usefulness for analysis and evaluation. 

Project IV – Complex Business Structures and Business Financial Data

This project has been undertaken by staff at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

An understanding of firm structure is essential for deriving the appropriate analytical unit. This project looks at issues arising from dealing with businesses with complex structures and provides guidelines to improve overall data quality and comparability.

A PDF version of the InnovationMetricsFramework.pdf (13.42MB) is available to download. 

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