Mauritius, South Africa and Tunisia are the most innovative countries in Africa according to the latest annual released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
The Global Innovation Index (GII) 2013 published earlier this month used 84 indicators including the quality of universities, availability of microfinance and venture capital deals.
The above three countries were placed in positions 53, 58 and 70 respectively.
The report also showed performances of countries broken down into high, middle and low income categories.
Uganda, which was 89 in the overall report, and Kenya (99) were named as the two most innovative economies in the low income category.
Mali, 106 overall, and Rwanda (112), were the next African countries in this category at 4 and 6 respectively.
“Business, government and civil society all offer new solutions and fresh ways of collaborating to spur innovation at local, national and even global levels,” said Bruno Lanvin, the report’s co-editor and executive director of INSEAD’s European Competitiveness Initiative.
“In fact, innovation is rapidly becoming a rallying symbol for forces of progress and reform around the world.
“Although our findings show that daunting challenges remain for many new players, we also see exciting examples of innovation success, including in some of the poorest countries. This is a source of optimism about the future of global innovation and economic recovery.”
Other notable African countries which featured in the overall GII were Morocco (92), Ghana (94), and Senegal (96).
Egypt was 108, while Namibia (109), Gabon (111), Burkina Faso (116), Zambia (118) and Malawi (119) were all above economic powerhouse Nigeria which came in at 120.
Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom were the top three countries in the report, which was also compiled with input from Cornell University and INSEAD.
