Innovation activity is behind an increase in income for Australian business, according to statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The ABS figures released yesterday revealed that over a third of business reported an increase in earnings from the sale of goods or services between 2011-12 and 2012-13.
The report specifically points to an increase in profit for companies that undertake innovation activity, referring to business working with new or significantly improved goods or services in the areas of operational processes, organisational/managerial processes, and marketing methods.
“Businesses in the Financial and insurance services industry were most likely to report an increase in income, while in contrast, more than half of all businesses in Manufacturing had a decrease,” said Sue-Ellen Luke from the ABS.
“However, against each of the measures, which included, among others, profitability, productivity and the total number of jobs or positions, businesses that had innovative activity during the year were more likely to report increases against the measures than non innovation-active businesses.”
Of Australian business classified as ‘innovation-active’ during 2012 and 2013, more than two thirds had a web presence and more than 40 per cent were active on social media.
