Australia’s R&D Spending Hits Historic Low, AAS Warns
(MENAFN) The Australian Academy of Science (AAS) issued a stark warning Wednesday, citing a sustained decline in government research and development (R&D) spending and flagging a shortfall of up to 400 million Australian dollars (US$257 million) in the Medical Research Future Fund.
The academy pointed to newly released figures from the 2025–26 Science, Research and Innovation Budget Tables, published by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, which show that federal R&D investment will remain stagnant at 0.53% of GDP — a slight dip from 0.54% in 2024–25.
AAS President Chennupati Jagadish cautioned that R&D funding is not even keeping up with inflation, much less driving productivity, stating that "it is hurting Australia."
Jagadish added that Australians expect advancements in technologies such as artificial intelligence to drive productivity, alongside innovative medical breakthroughs to improve health outcomes.
The AAS also highlighted that Australia is lagging significantly behind international standards. Government R&D funding trails the OECD average by A$1.8 billion (US$1.16 billion), while private sector underinvestment sits at A$32.5 billion (US$21 billion) below the OECD norm.
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