Innovation Capacity and Social SDGs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Health, Education, and Energy

This study investigates whether innovation capacity translates uniformly into social development outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa or whether its effects vary across sectors and institutional contexts. Drawing on National Innovation Systems theory, endogenous growth theory, and institutional economics, the paper examines the relationship between innovation capacity and three “hard” social Sustainable Development Goals: health (SDG 3), education (SDG 4), and energy (SDG 7). Using panel data for 43 Sub-Saharan African countries over 2005–2023, the analysis employs fixed effects models, robustness checks with Driscoll–Kraay standard errors, and dynamic System GMM estimations to account for unobserved heterogeneity, common shocks, and endogeneity. Innovation capacity is proxied by R&D expenditure, innovation performance, and high-tech exports, while institutional quality is incorporated to capture governance conditions. The results reveal pronounced sectoral heterogeneity. Innovation inputs show weak and inconsistent effects on health outcomes, more supportive but conditional effects in education, and mixed effects in energy, where structural and governance factors dominate. Across all sectors, institutional quality and country-specific persistence play a central role in shaping outcomes. These findings suggest that innovation capacity alone is insufficient to drive social development and that its effectiveness depends on sector-specific transmission mechanisms and institutional complements. JEL Classification : O31, O32, O38, I15, I25, Q48, O55