14 Jul 2022

The 2021 Global Innovation Index (GII) report has indicated that Botswana has  performed above the regional average on four pillars of institutions, infrastructure, business sophistication and knowledge and technology outputs.

This was said by Minister of Minerals and Energy, Mr Lefoko Moagi on Wednesday when answering a question from Jwaneng/Mabutsane MP, Mr Mephato Reatile.

He was answering on behalf of the Minister of Communications, Knowledge and Technology, Mr Thulagano Segokgo. 

He however said GII placed Botswana in position 106 amongst 132 countries assessed globally in terms of innovation performance.

He explained that the GII ranked innovation ecosystem performance of economies around the globe each year.

He said it also highlighted innovation strengths and weaknesses and particular gaps in innovation metrics.

The minister said the GII measured performance against seven pillars, being institutions, business sophistication, infrastructure, knowledge and technology output, creative output, market sophistication and human capital and research.

He said Botswana’s best performing pillar was institutions while the weakest was human capital and research.

“The GII score is computed taking into consideration the economy’s innovation input and innovation output. For each economy it is critical that they be effective in translating investment into innovation and higher quality outputs,” said the minister.

Mr Moagi also noted that the 2021 GII score indicated that Botswana’s economy produced less outputs in relation to the level of investment injected into innovation.

He also said Botswana was ranked 98 in terms of innovation inputs and 109 in terms of innovation outputs.

“When looking at Botswana’s performance in comparison to sub Saharan nations, the country ranks ninth out of 27 countries,” said the minister.

He also said since it commenced operations in 2013, the Botswana Digital and Innovation Hub (BDIH) facilitated 32 innovation businesses valued at P30.5 million.

He said the innovations were serving the economy in different fields such as agritech, cleantech, edutech, ehealth and ICT services.

Mr Reatile had asked the minister to state Botswana’s standing and ranking in the Innovation Index and the number of innovations from Botswana Digital and Innovation Hub (BDIH) since inception, their valuation and proprietary value. Ends