Innovation is key to improving a country’s long-term prosperity and well-being. However, innovation is a complex concept and is difficult to measure. Policymakers require an evidence base to understand how elements of the innovation system are performing and which areas need attention.

If the Australian Government does not focus on the right metrics for Australia, there is a significant risk that these metrics will inform policy settings, which will result in suboptimal outcomes.

The Review’s aim is to develop a suite of metrics that more fully capture innovation and thereby improve government policy-making, program design and evaluation, and overall decision-making. The Review took a holistic approach to innovation measurement and investigated data sources, metrics, analysis and leadership.

The Review proposes recommendations to:

• provide leadership of innovation measurement and reporting arrangements for the ongoing maintenance and reporting of innovation metrics including through the use of an innovation scorecard
• address data gaps to support the development and assessment of policy initiatives including where there are deficiencies in the frequency or availability of current data, or where conceptual or measurement challenges exist
• support the analysis of relevant new data, and data already available to the Australian Government that are not being fully utilised.