Africa-Press – Tanzania. TANZANIA is ranked among the top five most innovative countries in Sub-Saharan Africa amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the new Global Innovation Index (GII) 2021 report.
The report released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) recently, ranked Tanzania third most innovative achiever after South Africa and Kenya.
The country’s achievement is mainly attributed to the regulatory atmosphere which has propelled the country to the top of the ladder.
According to the report, several developing economies including Tanzania have performed above expectations on innovation relative to countries’ level of economic development despite the Covid-19 crisis.
“Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the largest number of over performing economies. The geography of global innovation is changing unevenly, Tanzania has remained firmly in the top 100 and as among countries in the region that improved their performance over time,” stated the report.
Among other factors that contributed to the high score includes; cost of redundancy dismissal, tertiary inbound mobility, information and communication technologies (ICTs), ICT use, e-government, e-participation, general infrastructure and microfinance gross loans.
Others are new businesses, domestic market scale, firms offering formal training, innovation linkages, universityindustry R&D collaboration, FDI net inflows, intellectual property receipts and production and export complexity.
The report further outlines that Tanzania, as one of the lower middle-income group economies, performs on innovation outputs at levels comparable to high-income Latin American economies like Chile and Uruguay. At a global level, Tanzania is placed at 90th position whereas neighbouring countries like Kenya and Uganda are ranked 85th and 119th respectively.
“Governments and enterprises in many parts of the world scaled up investments in innovation amid the massive human and economic toll of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The Global Innovation Index has illustrated a growing acknowledgement that new ideas are critical for overcoming the pandemic and for ensuring postpandemic economic growth” noted the Report.
WIPO Director General Daren Tang noted that this year’s Global Innovation Index showed that in spite of the massive impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on lives and livelihoods, many sectors have shown remarkable resilience especially those that have embraced digitalisation, technology and innovation.
“As the world looks to rebuild from the pandemic, we know that innovation is integral to overcoming the common challenges that we face and to constructing a better future. The Global Innovation Index is a unique tool to guide policy-makers and businesses in charting plans to ensure that we emerge stronger from the pandemic.” revealed the GII.
