This archive report was first published on 29 July 2019.
Published on July 29, 2019, the Global Innovation Index 2019 places Kenya as the second most innovative country in Sub-Saharan Africa, just behind South Africa.
Kenya's consistent high ranking is a testament to its innovative spirit, outperforming other lower-middle-income countries like India and Vietnam in innovation relative to GDP for the ninth consecutive year.
One key factor contributing to Kenya's success is its approach to healthcare innovation, which relies heavily on public-private partnerships. These collaborations have yielded significant benefits, but the country still needs to improve its performance in areas like creative output, technology, business sophistication, and human capital.
Kenya's strengths include its access to credit, particularly microfinance gross loans, where it ranks sixth globally. However, the country faces challenges in ICT services imports, pupil-teacher ratio, and trade tariff rates.
At the global level, Kenya ranks 77th, while neighboring countries like Tanzania and Uganda place 97th and 102nd, respectively. Switzerland remains the world's leader in innovation for the ninth consecutive year, followed by Sweden and the United States.
