Innovation Internet > Sections > About DIISR > Fact Sheets > ICT Industry Fact Sheet
 
 
 
 
 
 


(Last Reviewed :  31/08/2010 )

KEY POINTS

  • The ICT industry encompasses those businesses that produce the equipment, software and services to process, deliver and display information electronically. The industry includes the production of computer hardware and their peripheral devices, computer software, telecommunications assets, computer services and telecommunications services.
  • ICT is a key driver in productivity improvement across the economy. ICTs greatly enhance the productive and innovative capacity of nearly all other industries, in particular those of financial services, resources, energy, manufacturing, health, education and entertainment. According to the Australian Information Industry Association "ICT underpins more than 70% of productivity growth across all economic sectors". ICTs are continuously transforming the way all industry sectors collect, analyse, utilise, distribute and exchange information.
  • Increasingly the digital economy is also impacting on our social activities, changing the way we interact and access goods and services.
  • Australia has the 12th largest ICT market globally and the fifth largest in the Asia Pacific region. The Australian market is almost as large as the combined ICT markets of Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore [1].

FACTS AND FIGURES

  • In 2008–09 Australia's imports of ICT goods and services totalled $28.6 billion while exports totalled $5.5 billion.  Major sources of imports include China, ASEAN and the USA and major export markets include the USA, UK and ASEAN [2]. 
  • In 2008/09 the Australian ICT industry is estimated to have generated between $85 and $98 billion in revenue [3].
  • About 532,500 persons are employed as ICT workers as most broadly defined [4].  The demand for IT technical occupations is expected to increase by 75% over three years to 2013. IT professional positions are expected to rise by 18% over the same period [5].
  • During 2007–08 Australian businesses (from all industry sectors) spent approximately $3.7 billion on research and experimental development in the field of information, computing & communication sciences.  This represents 26 per cent of all businesses expenditure across all fields of research and experimental development [6].
  • Australia ranks ninth in the world in terms of overall e-readiness, down from sixth position in 2009.  E-readiness is a measure of the quality of a country’s ICT infrastructure and the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to derive economic and social benefit from ICTs [7].

References

  1. World Information Technology and Services Alliance, Digital Planet 2008, the Global Information Economy, Austrade Financial Services Benchmark Report 2009.
  2. ABS Trade Data on DFAT STARS Database and ABS Publication 5368.0, October 2009.
  3. Australian Computer Society CIIER Australian  ICT Statistical Compendium 2009
  4. Australian Computer Society CIIER, Australian ICT Statistical Compendium 2009 
  5. Innovation and Business Skills Australia Environment Scan 2010 – Information and Communications Technologies Industries
  6. ABS Research and Experimental Development, Businesses, Australia, 2007-08, Cat. No. 8104.0, published 25 September 2009.
  7. Economist Intelligence Unit, E-readiness Rankings 2010, The Economist, June 2010.