The 2022 Global Innovation Index (GII) measured each economy's innovative capacity and output by focusing on a long list of criteria such as human capital, institutions, technology and creative output, as well as market and business sophistication, among others. The GII ranking is based on performance across seven pillars:
- Institutions
- Human capital and research
- Infrastructure
- Market sophistication
- Business sophistication’
- Knowledge and technology outputs
- Creative outputs
Which are the most innovative economies in 2022?
Switzerland is the most innovative economy in the world in 2022 - for the 12th year in a row - followed by the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. China is nearing the top 10 while Türkiye and India enter the top 40 for the first time, according to the GII 2022.
Mauritius ranks first in Africa in Global Innovation Index 2022
According to the report, Mauritius emerged the most innovative African country, and climbing seven places to 45th on the Global Innovation Index (GII). Unlike most African countries, the report said Mauritius has a high human development score. Its economy has grown robustly in the last half a century, especially on financial services, tourism and information technology.
Top 10 innovation economies by region
This year, sixteen out of the 25 economies from Sub-Saharan Africa covered this year improved their ranking. Botswana took the biggest leap forward, reaching 86th position, and in so doing overtaking Kenya (88th) among the top 3 for the region. Other notable improvers within the region are Mauritius (45th), Ghana (95th), Namibia (96th) and Senegal (99th). South Africa remains unchanged in 61st place – and continuing to fail to improve consistently over time.
Here are the top 10 most-innovative countries in Africa, according to the 2022 Global Innovation Index
- Mauritius
- South Africa
- Kenya
- Cabo Verde
- Tanzania
- Namibia
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- Botswana
- Malawi
African countries that performed below expectation for their level of development.
According to the report, Côte d’Ivoire (109th), Nigeria (114th), Zambia (118th), Cameroon (121st), Benin (124th), Angola (127th) and Mauritania (129th), performed below expectation on innovation.
