IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ocp/pbecon/pb_04-22.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Innovation in Africa: Nature and Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Emmanuel Pinto Moreira

Abstract

According to the Oslo Manual, innovation can be defined as “the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service), or process, a new marketing method or a new organisational method in business practices, workplace organisations or external relations” (OECD, 2005, p. 46). For today’s middle-income countries in Africa, innovation is essential to sustain growth and promote the transition to high-income status. This paper begins by providing a summary of theoretical elements of the relationship between innovation and growth. It then does an in-depth review of the region’s innovation performance during the last three decades. In doing so it distinguishes between residents and non-residents, and outcomes at different income levels. Based on this analysis, and the broader literature on middle-income traps, policy recommendations to promote innovation are drawn.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuel Pinto Moreira, 2022. "Innovation in Africa: Nature and Evidence," Policy briefs on Economic Trends and Policies 2202, Policy Center for the New South.
    • Handle: RePEc:ocp:pbecon:pb_04-22
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.policycenter.ma/sites/default/files/2022-02/PB_04-22_%20Emmanuel%20Pinto%20Moreira%20%281%29.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Agénor, Pierre-Richard & Canuto, Otaviano, 2015. "Middle-income growth traps," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 641-660.
    2. Homi Kharas & Indermit Gill, 2007. "An East Asian Renaissance : Ideas for Economic Growth," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6798.
    3. Walid Hadhri & Rigas Arvanitis & Hatem M’Henni, 2016. "Determinants of innovation activities in small and open economies: the Lebanese business sector," Journal of Innovation Economics, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(3), pages 77-107.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:ocp:rpaeco:pb_04-22 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Satoru Kumagai, 2015. "The Middle-Income Trap from the Viewpoint of Trade Structures: Are the Geese Trapped or Still Flying?," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(03), pages 1-23.
    3. Lavopa, Alejandro & Szirmai, Adam, 2018. "Structural modernisation and development traps. An empirical approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 59-73.
    4. Otaviano Canuto, 2020. "Brazil, South Korea: Two Tales of Climbing an Income Ladder," Policy briefs on Economic Trends and Policies 2038, Policy Center for the New South.
    5. Glawe, Linda & Wagner, Helmut, 2017. "The Deep Determinants at More Subtle Stages of Development: The Example of the Middle-Income Trap Phenomenon," CEAMeS Discussion Paper Series 11/2017, University of Hagen, Center for East Asia Macro-economic Studies (CEAMeS), revised 2017.
    6. Linda Glawe & Helmut Wagner, 2016. "The Middle-Income Trap: Definitions, Theories and Countries Concerned—A Literature Survey," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 58(4), pages 507-538, December.
    7. Vivarelli, Marco, 2018. "Globalisation, structural change and innovation in emerging economies: The impact on employment and skills," MERIT Working Papers 2018-037, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    8. Francesco Macheda & Roberto Nadalini, 2022. "China’s Escape from the Peripheral Condition: A Success Story?," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 54(1), pages 59-82, March.
    9. Razafimandimby Andrianjaka, Riana & Rougier, Eric, 2019. "“What difference does it make (to be in the Middle Income Trap)?”: An empirical exploration of the drivers of growth slowdowns," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 225-236.
    10. Ang, Joshua Ping & Dong, Fang, 2023. "Middle-income trap and corruption: Evidence from a dynamic panel data analysis," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 349-361.
    11. Vivarelli, Marco, 2014. "Structural Change and Innovation as Exit Strategies from the Middle Income Trap," IZA Discussion Papers 8148, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. David Bulman & Maya Eden & Ha Nguyen, 2017. "Transitioning from low-income growth to high-income growth: is there a middle-income trap?," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 5-28, January.
    13. Emmanuel Pinto Moreira & Rishita Mehra, 2022. "Innovation in Africa: Evidence and Implications for Growth and the Transition to High-Income Status," Research papers & Policy papers on Economic Trends and Policies 2208, Policy Center for the New South.
    14. King Yoong Lim, 2017. "Assessing The Double-Edged Sword Of Using Imitation As A Stepping Stone To Innovation: A Case Of Malaysia’S K-Economy Puzzle," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 65(01), pages 131-159, November.
    15. Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "Structural Change and Innovation in Developing Economies: A Way Out of the Middle Income Trap ?," LEM Papers Series 2015/09, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    16. repec:ocp:rpaeco:pb_20-70 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Akbas, Yusuf Ekrem & Sancar, Canan, 2021. "The impact of export dynamics on trade balance in emerging and developed countries: An evaluation with middle income trap perspective," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 357-375.
    18. Helmut Wagner, 2017. "The building up of new imbalances in China: the dilemma with ‘rebalancing’," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 701-722, October.
    19. Abiad, Abdul & Debuque-Gonzales, Margarita & Sy, Andrea Loren, 2017. "The Role and Impact of Infrastructure in Middle-Income Countries: Anything Special?," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 518, Asian Development Bank.
    20. Riana Razafimandimby Andrianjaka & Eric Rougier, 2017. "What difference does it make? Revue de littérature et analyse empirique des déterminants de la Trappe à Revenu Intermédiaire," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2017-16, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    21. Glawe, Linda & Wagner, Helmut, 2020. "China in the middle-income trap?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    22. Allaoui, Elhassen & Tidjani, Chemseddine & Lacheheb, Miloud, 2015. "“Middle Income Trap”; the position of Algerian economy: a comparative analysis overview," MPRA Paper 91745, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 18 Mar 2019.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ocp:pbecon:pb_04-22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Policy Center for the New South's Customer service The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Policy Center for the New South's Customer service to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ocppcma.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.