Persistence of innovation and knowledge flows in Africa: An empirical investigation

This paper investigates the persistence of innovative activities at firm level in Africa. Assessing whether innovation is persistent or not is crucial in order to discriminate between different possible drivers of innovative processes and for guiding public policies aimed at promoting innovation. Using patent data, our aim is to capture some relevant features of innovative activities in the African region. Moreover, we look at the effect of international knowledge flows on the persistence of innovative activities. Employing a non-parametric approach based on transition probability matrices, we find some degree of persistence and a positive impact of knowledge flows from developed countries (OECD).