NAB and University of Melbourne join forces to analyse innovation

Australian businesses innovate more than they realise, and most are driven by a desire to better serve customers, new research by National Australia Bank (NAB) and University of Melbourne has found. NAB Group Economics and innovation department NAB Labs, along with The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, have combined to better understand what drives innovation across all sizes and types of businesses in Australia. Melbourne Institute Professional Research Fellow Guay Lim said the University analysed more than 25 years of data and found that traditional innovation measures, such as R&D and patents, had been growing solidly since 1990 but have flat-lined since the end of the mining boom. The University also found that traditional innovation measures do not apply equally across industries. In parallel, NAB Chief Economist Alan Oster and his team broke down the drivers of innovation by asking more than 500 businesses, no matter their industry or size, about their behaviours, creating the NAB Labs Innovation Index. 'Many businesses innovate continuously to survive and prosper but don't necessarily think of that as innovation, but more likely talk about 'improvements', 'changes' and 'adjustments' to their everyday processes, products or services which is exactly what innovating is,' Mr Oster said. 'What we found was that these innovation behaviours are driven simply by a desire to deliver a better experience, service and product to their customer.