Africa performs in the Global Innovation Index

Further to our blog post about AT Kearney’s African Retail Development Index (ARDI) report (which can be accessed here), we are happy to report that a number of African countries have also performed quite well in the 8th annual Global Innovation Index 2015 (GII) published jointly by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD. The report can be accessed and downloaded here.

The top performing African country is Mauritius (ranked 49th), which was unfortunately not part of the ARDI report. However, the next placed African country, South Africa (ranked 60th), came in at 6th on the ARDI ranking. Other ARDI ranked countries that made the GII include Botswana at 90th (ranked 2nd in the ARDI report), Rwanda at 94th (7th in the ARDI report) and Mozambique at 95th (15th in the ARDI report). Kenya (who was not ranked in the ARDI report for reasons briefly mentioned in our previous blog) is ranked 92nd in the GII.

The GII uses 79 indicators to rank 141 economies from around the world in terms of their innovation capabilities and results achieved. The indicators are divided into 7 main categories that are subdivided into smaller sub-categories and individual items considered. The main categories include Institutions (which covers the sub-categories political environment, regulatory environment and business environment), Human Capital and Research (which is subdivided into education, tertiary education and research and development) and Knowledge & Technology Outputs (which is subdivided into knowledge creation, knowledge impact and knowledge diffusion).

The rise of the listed African countries in the GII serves as an indication that innovation is growing in Africa and this is a field worth investing in, particularly since it is an accepted principle that innovation drives growth. We are well placed to assist clients in protecting their intellectual property in innovative projects embarked on in Africa.

For more information, please contact Adre Greeff