South Africa, Tunisia , Kenya- top innovators

THE Africa Competitiveness Report 2009 has been published and puts South Africa, Kenya and Tunisia as the top 3 innovators in information technology and other industries.
The three countries, which scored highly for their scientific capacity, are on the same level as innovative countries, Brazil and India, according to the report.
Produced by the World Economic Forum, the African Development Bank and the World Bank Africa, the report rates 33 African countries.
“These countries have high-quality scientific research institutions, invest strongly in research and development, and are characterised by a significant level of collaboration between business and universities in research,” said the report.
“As productivity increases, countries reach a point where further competitiveness can’t be gained by being cheaper or doing things better and this is where countries need to focus on being innovative.”
Algeria, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and Tunisia are in the efficiency-driven phase, while Botswana, Libya and Morocco are in transition from factor-driven to efficiency-driven.
Kenya, despite its high innovation rankings, remains in the first stage.
The other African countries in the survey are all in stage one.
In terms of overall competitiveness Tunisia was the top African country, ranked thirty-sixth down from thirty-second in the previous year’s report.
Overall, South Africa was the top country in Sub-Saharan Africa at 45th.