ABSTRACT
From the perspective of developing countries, innovation is best understood as the process by which firms master and implement the design and production of goods and services which are new to them, irrespective of whether they are new to their competitors. This chapter highlights some aspects of the innovation landscape in Africa, with particular emphasis on the prevalence of innovation and the distribution of information sources across countries. It then discusses the most important constraints to innovation in Africa and shows how the articles in this compilation advance the related research agenda. The innovation systems approach has been officially adopted by many developing countries, including those in Africa with science and technology policy having evolved to cover innovation policy and focusing more on capability building; however, the practice still tends to follow a conventional innovation paradigm, and fails to address systemic problems and failures.
