Innovation under the radar : the nature and sources of innovation in Africa /

Spurring innovation would seem vital to promoting sustained economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa. Fu (Univ. of Oxford) offers an overview of both the opportunities and challenges that sub-Saharan African countries currently face in this regard. Her title is suggestive of the more informal, incremental strategies that she argues will have particularly high innovation payoffs. The 14 chapters of the book take up a wide array of innovation-related themes, ranging from the role of the state and university/industry partnerships to the impacts of electronic payment systems and female entrepreneurs. The cases of Ghana and Tanzania receive focused attention throughout. Each chapter is written in what could be called research report format, consisting of an introduction followed by a literature review, data presentation, econometric model, results, and conclusion modules. The exposition is acronym heavy, and almost as much attention is given to the technical details of data sources and modeling as to the interpretation and import of the findings. The book does serve as a useful entrée into the author's quite extensive research program on a salient set of issues in economic development. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. --David Mitch, University of Maryland Baltimore County