Ethiopia Improves Spot on Global Innovation Index 

An index that ranks the global state of innovation has ranked Ethiopia as the 18th most innovative country in Africa in 2022.

The 15th edition of the Global Innovation Index, which was released recently, also saw Ethiopia jump nine spots from 2021, with a score of 16.3 out of 100. Globally, Ethiopia ranked 117th among the 132 countries evaluated in the report.

Ethiopia’s highest performance was in the infrastructure category and Institution category, which includes business, political, and regulatory environments, while the country’s lowest performance was in the human capital, research, and creative output categories.

2022 is the year Safaricom Ethiopia, the nation’s first private telecom operator, launches its network and services. Meanwhile, its competitor, the incumbent Ethio Telecom, also diversified into providing digital financial services.

The Global Innovation Index, issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), aims to help policymakers around the world improve their understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their national innovation systems.

The report identifies Mauritius as the most innovative country in Africa, followed by South Africa and Morocco, whose growth is pushing them closer to developed economies in the index.

On the other hand, Guinea is the least innovative country this year in an index that surveyed 31 African countries.

The survey ranks Switzerland as the world’s top destination for innovation, followed by the US and China.