Abstract

In 2001, the RAND Corporation´s Science and Technology Policy Institute created an Index of Science and Technology Capacity for the World Bank, which ranked 150 countries on their potential to innovate and collaborate with more scientifically advanced nations. At that time, the African nation that ranked highest on the list was Mauritius, at number 59, and of the bottom 20 countries, 14 were African. In the ensuing years, some African nations have posted their highest growth rates in several decades, and institutional change has begun to take its root in some parts of the continent. Have these changes had any effect on the scientific and technological capacity of African nations? This paper replicates the RAND Index to 2011 to answer this question, and suggests which African nations might be best poised to move forward technologically in coming decades.

Key words: Science and technology capacity, development, Africa.