Abstract

Increasingly, African states recognise the use of science, technology and innovation (STI) measurement for assessing progress towards the SDGs and STI Strategy for Africa (STISA) targets, as well as monitoring STI policy achievements at a national level. A concern is that STI measurement is heavily reliant on concepts and theories transposed from the literature on high-income countries, begging the question of relevance. Few of the alternative perspectives on innovation and new critical approaches to indicator development emerging from the global South come from or are based on research in Africa. Drawing on a systematic review of the literature, including a bibliometric analysis, this paper lays the foundation for future research on STI measurement in Africa, towards the goal of creating contextually-relevant STI indicators. The main question that the paper addresses is: How does the available literature on STI measurement in Africa provide an empirical and conceptual research base to inform shifting policy and measurement objectives? The review points to key and emerging analytical trends, and potential research gaps. Also highlighted are trends showing who is playing a role in shaping the agenda, which point to the need to build a research community of practice. Based on this review, we elaborate a research agenda for developing conceptual and empirical frameworks to measure what we should be measuring for innovation and development policy in African country contexts.

Learn more about the research and access the report: https://shorturl.at/tzQY0

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