The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has published the 2024 edition of the Global Innovative Index (GII). The report underscored the current state of global innovation in 133 countries, highlighting the progress and hurdles across major stages of the innovation cycle.
The Global Innovative Index is a global metric introduced in 2007 to assess and establish criteria for fully measuring the extent of innovation in different regions.
The indices used in measuring the innovative cycles include science and innovation investment, technological progress, technology adoption, and the socioeconomic impact of innovation.
Other indices used to evaluate the degree of innovation include Institutions, Human Capital and Research, Infrastructure, Market Sophistication, Business Sophistication, Knowledge & Technology Outputs, and Creative Outputs.
Africa’s Performance
The 54 African countries were grouped into high-income, upper-middle-income, lower-middle-income, and Low-income groups.
Emerging top three globally in the low-income category were Rwanda, Madagascar and Burundi. They were credited for exceeding development expectations.
Other countries in this group include Togo, Uganda, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali and Niger.
Listed in the upper middle-income group were South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Mauritius, while Tunisia, Kenya, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Algeria, Benin, Cameroon, Angola, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania were listed in the lower middle-income group.
Nigeria ranked 113 globally and 12th in Africa with a score of 17.1. Its highest ranking was in Human capital and research (78th), Creative outputs (87th), and Business sophistication (107th), while it ranked lowest in Infrastructure (127th), Institutions (125th), and Market sophistication, Knowledge, and technology outputs (121st).
Below are the top 10 African countries and their corresponding global rankings.
Experts suggest that there is a direct link between the innovation index and economic growth.
African nations must consistently oversee and enhance funding for research and development, instil entrepreneurial research mindsets in academic settings, and create a conducive environment for business enterprises to achieve economic growth and elevate their innovation index.