Science underpins $330m of Australia's economic output: report

Advances in the physical, mathematical and biological sciences in the past 20 to 30 years underpin $330 billion a year of Australia’s economic output, according to a new report commissioned by the Office of the Chief Scientist and the Australian Academy of Science.

Produced by the Centre for International Economics (CIE), the report found that without the last 30 years of advances in the biological sciences alone, our economy would be five per cent smaller than it is today, an annual difference of about $65 billion. 

The report synthesised a 2015 report on the importance of advanced physical sciences with a new study into the importance of advances in biological sciences.

Both reports were launched at the Shine Dome on 22 January by Academy President Professor Andrew Holmes and Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb.