THE NEXT SOCIETY launches the first Innovation Scoreboard suitable for Southern Mediterranean countries: 78 indicators that measure the innovation status in the region

Marseille, 7 May 2020 – While taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of the existing innovation indicators, FEMISE has created for THE NEXT SOCIETY, a Scoreboard of innovation that takes into account some of the particularities of the region while shedding light on the progress (or lack) achieved so far.

The 78 selected indicators provide therefore accurate information on the level of performance of the Mediterranean countries regarding the regional context. Built on this scoreboard’s basis, a digital and interactive tool has been developed by ANIMA to make the data simpler to read, THE NEXT SOCIETY i-data.

Innovation plays a crucial role in economic and social development. It is an important driver of growth, productivity, competitiveness, and job creation. It can also help to address some of the socio-economic challenges like health and poverty. As innovation is a collective performance in a large number of aspects and variables, measuring it cannot be done with one variable or indicator, but a collection of indicators, which are called a Scoreboard. THE NEXT SOCIETY, in its ambition to mobilise, promote and reinforce innovation ecosystems and economic development in the MENA countries has developed the first Innovation Scoreboard adapted to the region’s specificities thanks to the work of FEMISE, the leading partner in economic research.

Why a MED innovation scoreboard?

Due to the lack and difficulty of obtaining data, particularly in developing countries, only a few of existent scoreboards and innovation indicators include worldwide coverage. For the South Mediterranean Region, only selected countries are covered in some of the International Innovation Scoreboards, such as the Global Innovation Index (GII) and innovation indicators of the World Competitiveness Report (WCR). Only recently Egypt and Israel have been included in the OECD published Science, Technology and Innovation outlook. Moreover, existent scoreboards have not been adapted to reflect the progress (or lack) of the innovation in the South Med countries. In fact, it is argued that the indicators included to measure innovation were mainly designed for the developed and emerging markets’ economies and hence are not able to give a real picture of the progress and the challenges for the developing countries.

Given these concerns, THE NEXT SOCIETY decided to develop a MED-suited Innovation Scoreboard able to index and compare the innovation performance among the countries of the region. THE NEXT SOCIETY Innovation Scoreboard led by FEMISE is the first of its kind covering the MENA region and having been created by Mediterranean researchers.

THE NEXT SOCIETY MED Innovation Scoreboard

For this MED-specific scoreboard of innovation, FEMISE has selected some of the indicators that are the most relevant for the region. The 78 selected indicators provide therefore accurate information on the level of performance of the Mediterranean countries with regard to the regional context and include: (i) published data (secondary data) by international organisations, (ii) survey data (primary data) that was conducted by different organisations; (iii) and calculated data from raw databases. All data included have been referred with their source and the latest available year (an update is already ongoing with additional indicators).

The 78 indicators are classified according to the 3 main phases of the innovation measuring process:

– The Input stage: this is where the basic ‘ingredients’ of reaching an innovation system are put in place. This stage includes indicators related to the enabling environment, human capital investment and Research and Development.

– The Process stage: this is where all those ingredients work together in a defined environment: benefiting from opportunities and facing challenges. This stage includes indicators related to the use of advanced technology and awareness of the importance of training and R&D at the firms’ level, the level of high tech in the industry and the structural transformation at the national level, in addition to the adoption of business reforms.

– The Output stage: this represents the outcome of the innovation process and the different channels through which the innovative product or idea are diffused. This stage includes indicators related to the Innovative firms and their outputs, the performance of innovative products in the international markets and the degree of diffusion of knowledge and innovation.

For each of these stages, the list of indicators provides a collective way to measure the stage. They are grouped by category (Political and Institutional Environment, Infrastructures, Education, R&D, innovative firms and outputs, knowledge diffusion, …). It is important to know that among the 78 indicators in the scoreboard, some have not been used in any other scoreboards and have been specifically created and followed by FEMISE to develop THE NEXT SOCIETY MED Innovation Scoreboard. To consult the full list of indicators gathered on the MED Innovation Scoreboard, please click here.

THE NEXT SOCIETY i-data

By making this scoreboard digital and interactive, THE NEXT SOCIETY aims at making this unique data accessible and comprehensive to the entire population of the MED countries, so that the user does not have to be an expert in the field to understand the issues exposed and to access research-issued information. i-data enables all users to seize the results of economic research and makes the experience of consulting economic data entertaining! Users will be able to:

select the stage of innovation they are interested in and visualise for each category a chart bringing together the different indicators associated.
select the country (out of the 7 countries covered) they are interested in- by ticking or unticking them – to view their performance and display the regional average at the same time.

Check i-data, the scoreboard digital and interactive tool by THE NEXT SOCIETY!

For any question related to the methodology used, a particular indicator, a source or anything else, please contact us at welcome@thenextsociety.co.

To download the press release, click here

About THE NEXT SOCIETY

THE NEXT SOCIETY is an open community of changemakers, entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, NGOs, public and private innovation, research and economic development hubs from Europe and 7 Mediterranean countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia.

Led by ANIMA Investment Network, it aims at mobilising, promoting and reinforcing innovation ecosystems and economic development in the MENA region. To reach these goals, THE NEXT SOCIETY launched a four-year action plan (2017-2020), co-funded by the EU up to 90% for a global amount of EUR 7.8 million budget. It supports the emergence of talents and innovative leaders who will drive the next trends and usages by targeting startups, clusters and technology transfer offices to accompany their development. www.thenextsociety.co

About FEMISE

FEMISE, Forum Euroméditerranéen des Instituts de Sciences Économiques (the Euro-Mediterranean Forum of Institutes of Economic Sciences), is a Euromed network established in June 2005 as an NGO (under the French Law of 1901), following 8 years of activities. The network gathers more than 100 members of economic research institutes, representing the 37 partners of the Barcelona Process and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). FEMISE is coordinated by the Economic Research Forum (ERF), Egypt and Institut de la Méditerranée (IM), France. The Network aims to provide policy relevant research on issues of importance to the EU-Med region, establish dialogues between the different stakeholders and disseminate the outputs to the wider communities and Policy makers. www.femise.org

About ANIMA Investment Network

ANIMA Investment Network is an international economic development network that aims to work to the promotion and development of the Mediterranean. The ANIMA network brings together 80 members from 18 countries of the Euro-Mediterranean area, including national and regional investment promotion and economic development agencies, business federations, innovation centres, international investors and research institutes. ANIMA’s objective is to contribute to the continued improvement of the business and investment climate, as well as encourage shared and sustainable economic development in the Mediterranean. www.anima.coop