7 - Leaders in the Fourth Industrial Revolution on the African Continent

Summary

This chapter highlights South Africa, Tunisia, Mauritius, Morocco, and Kenya as the 4IR leaders in Africa. Each country is compared with the use of the GII and GCI scoring to explore their strengths and weaknesses in the 4IR. The GII is a measure of the components of innovation, while the GCI measures twelve specific components that determine a country’s long-term competitiveness. The two have similar overlaps, but the GII is the primary index of analysis with the GCI as a supplementary unit of information. Following the overall comparison of the five countries comes country-specific analyses that include noteworthy innovations and strengths and challenges. Each country analysis helps in looking at the overall digital maturity of the African continent. It also gives more insightful glance at specific sector reforms and policies.