This chapter presents results about sources of ideas or information that businesses found important for the purposes of innovation. ‘Existing staff’ was the most common source of information businesses used for innovation.
Please view tables 8–9 (in chapter 17 of the pdf or in the available files section online) along with this chapter.
Overall sources
Survey results show that the sources of information most reported to be important to innovating businesses were:
- ‘existing staff’ (74 percent)
- ‘customers’ (61 percent)
- ‘new staff’ (54 percent).
Less than 10 percent of businesses rated either ‘universities or polytechnics’ or ‘Crown research institutes (CRIs), other research institutes, or research associations’ as important sources of information.
Figure 5.01
Sources by industry
To give a picture of the types of organisations or people that were important sources of information for different industries, the following sources were selected, as they show a range of internal and external sources:
- universities or polytechnics
- CRIs, other research institutes, or research associations
- existing staff
- new staff.
Universities or polytechnics; CRIs, other research institutes, or research associations; and government agencies are external to businesses and a source of research and technical knowledge.
Existing and new staff are internal sources of knowledge that businesses may have easy access to.
Universities or polytechnics were rated as important sources by 22 percent of businesses in the education and training industry, but by only 1 percent in the retail trade industry.
CRIs, other research institutes, or research associations were rated as important sources by 23 percent of businesses in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry.
Rates for existing staff as sources of information ranged from 92 percent in the mining and quarrying industry to 59 percent in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry.
Rates for new staff as sources of information ranged from 75 percent in the education and training industry to 42 percent in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry.