"This report provides an overview of the comparative innovation capacity of the Africa region through ICT-centric Innovation policy monitors and shares insights about good practices strengthening the capacity to integrate ICT innovation in national development agendas. Overall, although sub-Saharan Africa has benefited from rapidly growing innovation systems, its performance in the three engines of growth must improve for the region to become a real actor on the global stage. Nigeria for example, has an entrepreneurial ecosystem that is performing well, while its technological and innovation ecosystems need further support to turn the country into a thriving digital innovation ecosystem.
To understand these discrepancies, the report introduces two ICT-centric innovation policy monitors: the three engines of growth monitor and the enablers of digital transformation monitor. The report notes that there are many good practices in the region fuelling the entrepreneurial journey. Each practice presented in the report was analysed based on its impact in a third ICT-centric innovation policy monitor, the ecosystem maturity map monitor. Each stakeholder group, at each of the five stages of the entrepreneurial journey, is assessed by its level of engagement to assess the maturity of the ecosystem. For example, the first stage of the journey for entrepreneurs is entrepreneurial interest, while for the public sector, it is having a vision and strategy. The monitor enables stakeholders to visualize the maturity of the ICT-centric innovation ecosystem and identify which practices to keep, which must be improved and which to replace." (Introduction)