Authors: Joanes Atela (joanes.atela@arin-africa.org) et al
Highlights from the First National Innovation Outlook Study for Kenya
Context and Rationale
Despite Kenya riding on innovation as a vehicle for economic growth, there lacks a consolidated platform where innovation activities and progress can be updated in real–time to serve as a one–stop–shop for information on Kenya’s current innovation status and outlook. This hampers the ability of the government, local stakeholders, and foreign investors to make rapid and evidence–based decisions regarding investing in Kenya’s ST&I sector. Additionally, Kenya’s innovation landscape has been mainly assessed through the wider ST&I lens based on global standards and indicators and there have been limited efforts to domesticate the indicators to make them more relevant, understandable, and usable by local decision– makers. This inaugural Kenya Innovation Outlook study attempts to co–develop a contextual framework and indicators for measuring innovation together with stakeholders. It provides a template that can be used and regularly improved in assessing the country’s innovation. The study was funded by the UKAid’s– East Africa Research and Innovation Hub (EARIH) and technically led by the Africa Research and Impact Network (ARIN), in close consultations with the Kenya Innovation Agency (KeNIA).
