The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in its report on the 9th edition of the global innovation index which was released on August 15, 2016, in Geneva (Switzerland), ranked Morocco 72nd out of 128 nations in terms of innovation.

The kingdom jumped 6 places in the new ranking compared to 2015 where it was 78th out of 141 countries. Morocco thus gets ahead of its Northern African neighbors namely Tunisia (77^th), Egypt (107^th), Algeria (113rd), and become the most innovative country of the Maghreb.

Morocco totaled an average score of 32.26p over 100. With this score, the country got the seventh position among best ranked economies with average intermediary revenues. Criteria used to determine its position include innovation’s quality and spending in material. The Cherifian kingdom is one out of 16 countries from North Africa and Western Asia to be in the top 100 of most innovative nations.

“Investing in innovation is vital to insure a long term economic growth. Given the current economic environment, all concerned parties must have as a priority finding new sources of growth and exploit all the opportunities that global innovation has to offer,” said Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO.

Worldwide, Switzerland remains the number one as far as innovation is concerned. It is followed by Sweden (2^nd), United Kingdom (3rd), United States (4th) and Finland (5th).

Alain Okpeitcha