Australia is well served by its public funding support - some $6 billion in 2002 03 - for science and innovation according to this draft research report into the sector.

It is not possible, given a host of measurement and methodological issues, to provide accurate estimates of the contributions of such R&D to the economy, but indications are that they are significant. There are also important social and environmental dividends for Australians.

There are no grounds for a radical overhaul in total public funding or in the allocation of that funding. However, incremental improvement is needed in some areas.

The adequacy of existing evaluation arrangements is mixed, with some notable shortcomings in business programs.