The 2019 edition of the Global Innovation Index has ranked Nigeria at 114 out of 129 economies. The index classified Nigeria among the low-middle income countries whose innovation performance was underachieving.
The Global Innovation Index (GII) measures performance using detailed metrics to show innovation-driven growth for 129 economies.
The latest index tagged “Creating Healthy Lives—The Future of Medical Innovation” explored the role and dynamics of medical innovation as it shapes the future of healthcare, and the potential influence it has on economic growth.
Professor Soumitra Dutta, Founder of GII, speaking at the launch expressed hope that the research would help countries improve their innovative performances.
Nigeria climbed four places but…
Nigeria climbed up four places to 114 out of 129 economies from last year’s GII index. However, it scored 23.9%, ranking it low on the innovation index compared to its level of economic development.
Nigeria’s gloried crown as the largest economy in Africa did not reflect in the rankings. Kenya and Rwanda with considerable smaller economies showed higher levels of innovative development.
On the continent as a whole, South Africa ranked 63, the highest in Africa with Kenya and Mauritius following behind at 77 and 87 respectively.
According to the report, Nigeria’s performance compared to other economies was due to laxity in specific areas like ISO 9001 quality certificates, university/industry research collaboration, high-tech net exports, creative goods export and patents by origin.
However, Nigeria’s economy showed strength in domestic market scale, microfinance gross loans as a percentage of GDP, intensity of local competition, ease of getting credit, intellectual property payments and knowledge-intensive employment.
Medical innovation
On the global scale, India showed the highest rise in innovation climbing 29 places in the index over the last four years. However, Nigeria still recorded a significant rise in medical innovation ranking it among large emerging economies like China, India and South Africa.
The findings published in the GII report shows studies of what’s going wrong and what could be done to catapult innovation in a country.
Understanding how top innovative countries like Switzerland, Sweden and the United States are growing can lend policymaker insight into how to trigger growth in Nigeria.
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