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The S&T Statistical Compendium 2004 was prepared for the January 2004 meeting of the Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy (CSTP) at Ministerial level and mainly draws on databases, indicators and methodology developed by the CSTP’s Working Party of National Experts on Science and Technology Indicators (NESTI) Working Party, and compiled by the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry (DSTI). It presents a wide selection of the most policy-relevant and internationally comparable indicators currently available in the field of science and technology.
The document looks at the state of science and technology in the OECD across four broad dimensions:
• Section A: Innovation and R&D.
• Section B: Human Resources in Science and Technology (HRST).
• Section C: Patents.
• Section D: Other areas (ICT, globalisation, industrial structure).
Many of these indicators are drawn from or are updates to the OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2003, which also includes more detailed methodological explanations and notes. Member country rankings should be interpreted with caution when absolute differences are small since data are subject to ongoing revisions.
In addition to well established S&T data, this report presents a wide range of recently developed indicators in the areas of patents and human resources in science and technology (including data drawn from the work of the Education Directorate). Patent indicators are mainly drawn from the work conducted within the framework of the OECD Patent Project. The HRST indicators include, among others, labour force participation of university graduates, growth of scientific and technical occupations and international mobility of students and scientists and engineers.
This compendium includes a number of experimental indicators in areas such as biotechnology, nanotechnology and the international mobility of human resources for S&T. While these indicators do not benefit from the decades of experience that other S&T indicators enjoy, such as R&D, they are included to give policy makers some indication of trends in areas high on the policy agenda as well as current developmental work being undertaken by NESTI. These indicators should be used with an appreciation of their limitations given their early stage of development.
The compendium can be downloaded by clicking here.
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