Inventions and patenting in Africa: Empirical trends from 1970 to 2010.

ABSTRACT: Economic development is increasingly dependent upon on utilizing new knowledge to innovate and create value, even in traditional industries and in low-income countries. This analysis uses evidence on patent families to assess innovation activity throughout sub-Saharan Africa. We find patent activity in sub-Saharan Africa-both by African inventors and by foreign inventors-is comparable to similar regions around the world, when conditioned on economic size. Patent filings in Africa have grown, particularly, since the mid-1990s, but at different rates within different African jurisdictions. Types of technologies being patented in Africa have remained stable over 30 years, with most in pharmaceuticals, chemistry, biotechnology, and engineering. The majority of patent filings in Africa are from

SUBMITTER: Graff GD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7078756 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature