The importance of advanced physical, mathematical and biological sciences to the Australian economy

This report aims to aid policy making and public discussion based on rigorous estimates of the current contribution of the core sciences. The Office of the Australian Chief Scientist commissioned the Australian Academy of Science to develop two complementary reports on the importance of recent advances in a selection of the sciences in the knowledge that the economy is not an end in itself but a means by which we realise our many goals. The Academy contracted the Centre for International Economics to do this work. We now have, for the first time, two reports that estimate the extent to which our economy, our health and our environment are based on global advances in specific fields of knowledge over the past 20 to 30 years. While further analysis and projections may follow, the reports aid policy making and public discussion based on rigorous estimates of the current contribution of the core sciences. The contribution is substantial—and consistent with estimates for the same sciences made using different methods in other countries