Product design
Product design
When designing an item you may want to find information on:
- guidelines or specifications you need to follow
- similar products that are already out there
- information and statistics on the intended users of your item
The information on this page will provide you with links and tips to find the information you need
What is a standard?
"Standards are documents setting out specifications, procedures and guidelines. They are designed to ensure products, services and systems are safe, reliable and consistent."
(Standards Australia).
There are 3 kinds of standards:
- International
- Regional
- National
Standards are developed by various bodies, agencies, trade and professional association. Some standards are voluntary others are enforced by legislation - mandatory.
Australian standards
Standards Australia, an independent organisation, produces most of the Australian standards. Its policy is to adopt International Standards wherever possible.
- Standards sources (from the Patents and Standards guide)
Useful databases and sites to search for standards including International standards
Australian Bureau of Statistics
- Topics @ a Glance provide lists of statistics under the economy, environment and energy, regional, people and industry headings
- ABS Presents Series are general videos with a statistical focus
- Browse statistics on the economy, industry, people, labour, health and more
- Popular statistics show what ABS statistics people are using
Company and Industry Information
Patents
A patent is a right that is granted for any device, substance, method or process that is new, inventive and useful. A patent is a legally enforceable right to commercially exploit the invention for the life of the patent.
taken from the IP Australia website
For more information on Patents see our Patents and Standards guide as well as information on the IP website on Patents and Design Rights.
There are 2 types of patents granted in Australia:
Find out about the differences in the type of inventions they cover and the length of protection they offer on the IP Australia website.
An Australian patent provides protection only within Australia. To obtain similar protection in other countries you generally have 2 choices:
- File separate patent applications in each country
- File a single international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), this will take effect in all (152) member countries, including Australia. This is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
- International patent sourcesSelect this link to see more information about searching for international patent sources
Scopus for patents
Scopus is a multidisciplinary database featuring scholarly material which also contains more than 23 million patents from 5 patent offices (US, European, Japan, UK and World Intellectual Property Organization)
To search for a patent:
- type in your terms, e.g. "patient alarm" in the search box
- in the results screen, click on the View patents results tab to display these results
- use Refine options to limit your results including to specific patent offices
- ScopusOne of the largest bibliographic, multidisciplinary database. Covers chemistry, physics, mathematics, engineering, life and health sciences, social sciences, psychology, economics, and biological, agricultural, environmental and general sciences.
Statista
Statista the statistics portal for market data, market research and market studies. It contains:
- Industry statistics from market, trade, scientific and government sources
- Infographics - visualising current topics
- Advanced search - sort results by date, category and region