Global Innovation Index 2021: Innovation Investments Are Resilient Amid COVID-19

Botswana

The World Intellectual Property Management Organisation (WIPO) in partnership with the Portulans Institute, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry (CNI), Ecopetrol (Colombia), and the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) published the 14th edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII). The GII provides new data and analysis on the state of global innovation, enabling readers and policymakers to compare the performance of the innovation ecosystem of more than 130 economies.

GII on Sub-Saharan Africa

The GII indicates that only Mauritius at 52nd and South Africa at 61st rank in the top 65 in sub-Saharan Africa, while Kenya at 85th and Tanzania at 90th are firmly within the top 100 and have gained ground over the past five years.

The following 10 countries moved up the rankings:

  • Kenya at 85th

  • Cabo Verde at 89th

  • Namibia at 100th

  • Malawi at 107th

  • Madagascar at 110th

  • Zimbabwe at 113th

  • Burkina Faso at 115th

Mauritius ranks the highest in the region for institutions at 21st, creative outputs at 31st and infrastructure at 65th. Human capital and research are Namibia’s strongest points, while market and business sophistication, knowledge, and technology outputs are South Africa’s strongest attributes.

GII Key Findings

  • Investment in innovation has shown great resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, often reaching new peaks, but it varies across sectors and regions.

  • Technological progress at the frontier holds substantial promise.

  • Only a few economies have consistently delivered peak innovation performance.

  • Selected middle-income economies are changing the innovation landscape, starting with China, Turkey, Viet Nam, India, and the Philippines are now pulling their weight.

  • Several developing economies are performing above expectation on innovation relative to their level of economic development.

  • The geography of global innovation is changing unevenly.

  • New science and technology (S&T) clusters are emerging, with the majority located in only a handful of countries.

Access the GII via: https://www.wipo.int/publications/en/details.jsp?id=4560

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