National Innovation System and Economic Development in Nigeria

Abstract

The paper analyzed the National Innovation System (NIS) and economic development in developing countries like Nigeria. The objectives of the paper were to examine the nature of innovation systems in Nigeria. It also investigates the effects of NIS on economic growth and development in Nigeria. The review of literature suggests that NIS is more than just technological innovations, it includes the interrelationships between firms, governmental institutions, NGOs, and international institutions who engage in one form of R&D activity or the other in a country. The paper employed both descriptive statistics and generalized linear models (GLM) to explain the NIS and economic development in Nigeria. The results from the descriptive analysis revealed that the nature of the Nigerian innovation system is weak and still evolving. It reveals that low performance and high variations in NIS indicators such as industrial design applications, patent right applications, trademark applications, methodology assessment of statistical capacity, high technology exports, ICT goods exports, ICT goods imports and ICT services exports, and agricultural raw materials exports and imports in Nigeria. The regression results also revealed that NIS (R&D expenditures) is a significant positive determinant of economic growth and development in Nigeria. The paper also showed that human capital, industrial production, stock market capitalization, trade openness, foreign direct investment, and exchange rate regimes are significant determinants of economic growth and development in the NIS in Nigeria. Projecting economic growth and development to higher levels and achieving the projections remains the main objective of government policies in Nigeria.