The Global Innovation Index (GII), an annual report published by Cornell University, ranked Egypt 108 out of 142 countries in terms of progress in innovation.
The report, which analyses and evaluates the dynamics of innovation in 142 countries, dropped Egypt’s ranking by 5 places compared to last year’s listing, making it the fourth least innovative country in the region.
In terms of innovation input, Egypt placed 101st among North African and West Asian countries.
The report revealed that a number of sectors were faltering; the report showed that less than 15% of industries in the manufacturing sector were implementing product or process innovation.
Other sectors, however, showed points of strength, namely infrastructure.
“A new type of development strategy driven by innovation is needed in Arab countries to cope with the daunting challenges, chief among them unemployment,” the report stated.
The research ranked Cairo last among 20 top destination cities in terms of job creation; less than 1,000 jobs were created between 2012 and 2013.
Despite that, Egypt was graded the 42nd easiest country in which to start a business, and the 32nd strongest in terms of number of joint ventures and alliances.
The report also highlighted some points of Egypt’s strengths, such as the research and development witnessed especially in universities, total value of stocks traded and pupil-teacher ratio in secondary education.
It showed that the intensity of competition in the Egyptian market was poor, and gave a low score for market sophistication and computer software spending. The country also showed weakness in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI), ranking the fourth least country with FDI net inflows, which was also reflected in the lack of political stability, presence of violence as well as lack of freedom of press.
