Innovation is generally considered to be the development or introduction of new or significantly improved goods, services, processes or methods. As innovation is often seen as a continuous process and aspects can be intangible, it can be difficult to measure. An international framework, the 'Oslo Manual, Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data', has been developed jointly by Eurostat and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to aid in measuring the process of innovation. This manual, updated in 2005, forms the basis of concepts and definitions used to measure the incidence of innovation by the Business Characteristics Survey (BCS). The BCS collects information about the broad types and status of innovation in Australian business for a 12 month reference period. For more detail about these concepts and definitions, please refer to the Glossary.



More detailed data about innovation in Australian business during 2016-17 will be released in Innovation in Australian Business (cat. no. 8158.0) on 19 July 2018 and Selected Characteristics of Australian Business, 2016-17 (cat. no. 8167.0) on 16 August 2018.