eBusiness Weekly
Tawanda Musarurwa
Zimbabwe has been ranked 99th in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2018, an improvement from position 121 last year.
The Global Innovation Index (GII) ranking is published annually by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and GII Knowledge Partners.
In respect of the latest rankings Zimbabwe ranks high on a few indicators, namely: “expenditure on education as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP)” with a ranking of 7; “Government funding/pupil, secondary as percentage of GDP” with a ranking of 12; “percentage of graduates in science and engineering” with a ranking of 10; “computer software spending as a percentage of GDP” with a ranking of 21; and “PCT patents by origin” with a ranking of 31.
Strong indicators which Zimbabwe did not do so well include: access to credit, market capitalisation, university and industry research collaborations, cluster development and intellectual property payments.
Innovation is considered a key factor in the success of a business or more broadly an economy insofar as businesses that foster and use creativity are more likely to develop the best and most relevant products.
Zimbabwe still lags behind in terms of promotion of research and development (R&D) despite growth of R&D across the globe.
“The global landscape of investment in science and technology as well as in education and human capital has undergone important positive shifts over the last three decades. Today innovation and research and development are a serious policy ambition in most developed and developing economies and in all world regions. Global R&D expenditures have continued to rise, more than doubling over the 20-year period between 1996 and 2016; businesses increasingly account for most R&D investments,” reads part of the GII 2018 report.
Meanwhile in Sub Saharan African, Mauritius is leading the way in innovation followed by South Africa and Kenya, respectively.
Globally, China broke into the world’s top 20 most-innovative economies as Switzerland retained top spot.
The Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Singapore, United States of America, Finland, Denmark, Germany and Ireland rounded GII 2018’s top 10.
The GII ranks 126 economies based on 80 indicators, ranging from intellectual property filing rates to mobile-application creation, education spending and scientific and technical publications.
