Assessing the Innovation System of Australia. The Influence of Australian Economy

Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject Politics - Region: Other States, grade: 1,7, Private University of Applied Sciences Goettingen, language: English, abstract: The paper questions what influence high-growth firms in Australia have on the Australian innovation system. Is their influence on the innovation system as significant as their contribution to the Australian economy? What role do research and development activities play in this context, especially research and development expenditures? It is the aim of this scientific work, especially with publications from the Australian government, to provide answers to these questions. To answer the questions just mentioned, this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 deals entirely with the phenomenon of high-growth firms in Australia. First, a few selected data on the Australian economy are presented and put into context with those of another economy. In addition, two innovation indices are discussed in order to classify Australia's innovative capacity. Sections 2.1 and 2.2 define high-growth firms, explain their typical characteristics and then discuss the performance of high-growth firms and their impact on Australian economic performance. Section 3 continues with the relationship between business performance and innovation. It uses literature and studies to explain the relationship between business performance and innovation and how it is expressed. Building on this, Section 3.1 discusses the role of R&D activities and especially research and development expenditure in high-growth firms in Australia in this relationship. Finally, before concluding this paper, Section 4 provides an outlook on the impact of high-growth firms on Australia's innovation system. First, we define what is meant by a national innovation system and then use this as a basis for answering the main question of this paper.