Expenditure on research and development by Australian business dropped 3 percent in 2009-10, compared with 2008-09, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has reported. And the IT and communications industries were among the lowest performers.

ABS’s report of R&D Down Under, published yesterday,  put total expenditure on R&D by Australian businesses at $16.68 billion, down from $17.26 billion in 2008-09.

However human resources devoted to R&D over the same period rose 6 percent to 57,447 person years of effort.

Expenditure as a percentage as a proportion on GDP also dropped – from 1.38 percent to 1.3 percent.

Australia now ranks 14th among OECD countries in the ratios of R&D to GDP: Israel tops the list at 3.42pc, followed by Finland, Sweden, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, USA, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Iceland, France and Belgium – all ahead of Australia.

In terms of human resources devoted to R&D, Stats found the information, media and telecoms industries ranked only seventh out of 10 industry groups. Manufacturing and professional, scientific and technical services led the way followed by finance and insurance, mining, wholesale trade, construction – and finally IT and telecoms.