Global Innovation Index (GII) released last week ranked Rwanda as 99th among 126 surveyed countries globally.
Rwanda has done different innovations in a few years including the AC Group’s Tap&Go card used to collect fares on public buses. The technology has been exported to Cameroon. The country has also put in place Rwanda Innovation Fund (RIF).
Rwanda hosts regional campus of American ICT and Science renowned Carnegie Mellon University. It hosts African Institute of Mathematics and Science (AIMS) in Kigali.
GII is conducted by US-based Cornell University, INSEAD Business School and the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
According to the Index, sub-Saharan Africa is lagging behind. However, the region is reported at the level of development and the results of some countries are not so bad.
Some 20 countries outperform in innovation compared to their level of development.
“Among these 20 economies, six come from sub-Saharan Africa,” reads the report.
These are Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Madagascar, South Africa and Malawi.
“It is important to note that Kenya, Rwanda, Mozambique, Malawi and Madagascar have stood out by their ability to innovate at least three times over the last eight years,” said the three organisations.
The GII considered 80 indicators taking a broad view of innovation. They include the policy environment, education, infrastructure and business development.
Despite the good performance of the above-mentioned countries, sub-Saharan Africa comes last in the ranking by region with a score of 25/100.
North America is the most innovative region with a score of 56/100 while Europe is not far behind with 47/100.
Like last year, South Africa is ranked first in Africa and 58th globally, followed by Mauritius (75th), Kenya (78th), Botswana (91st), Tanzania (92nd), Namibia (93rd), Rwanda (99th) and Senegal (100th).
Kenya improves two places as Tanzania and Namibia improve four on their GII rankings compared to 2017.
Rwanda and Senegal remain stable. South Africa, Mauritius and Botswana have dropped positions.
Other 16 African countries are in the places above 100 but seven among them have improved on the ranking compared to 2017.
Those are Madagascar from 111th to 106th, Cameroon from 117th to 111th, Mali from 118th to 112th, Zimbabwe from 121st to 113th, Malawi from 115th to 114th, Nigeria from 119th to 118th, Guinea from 126th to 119th, Zambia from 124th to 120th and Niger from 123rd to 122nd.
Among ten least successful innovation countries, eight are in sub-Saharan Africa. As the authors of the study write, the global innovation gap remains large between high-income, high-ranking economies and developing countries.
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