Kenya emerged among the top five African countries in the latest Global Innovation Index ranking following investments made in education and four other sectors critical to governmental success.
Despite dropping three points from the 2021 ranking, Kenya still emerged 88th globally after investments made in education were viewed as a key strength for the country.
The government's expenditure in the education sector also saw Kenya positioned 48th in the global ranking for that category.
In the 2022 index done by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Kenya was ranked fifth in Africa after Mauritius, South Africa, Morocco and Botswana.
Switzerland on the other hand emerged top globally followed by the US, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
"Kenya scores above its income group in institutions, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs, and creative outputs," read the statement in part.
The 2022 ranking tracked the most recent global innovation trends in consideration of productivity growth among other challenges facing the economy.
However, some of the weaknesses noted in the sector were pupil-to-teacher ratio in secondary schools, enrollment to tertiary schools, and performance of universities in various rankings.
Other strengths for Kenya were market investments, intellectual property payments, high technology imports, and labour productivity growth among others.
"Several developing economies are performing above expectations on innovation relative to their level of economic development.
"India, Kenya, the Republic of Moldova and Vietnam hold the record by outperforming for the 12th year in a row," added the report.
On the other hand, applied tariff rates in trade, electricity output and the import of ICT services were some of the weaknesses identified in 2022.
