The Impact of Internet Access on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa

This paper investigates the effects of access to high-speed internet on innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa. The identification strategy exploits the staggered arrival of submarine internet cables to the coast of Africa and the subsequent rol...

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Main Authors:	Houngbonon, Georges Vivien, Mensah, Justice Tei, Traore, Nouhoum
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank 2022
Subjects:	PROCESS INNOVATION PRODUCT INNOVATION HIGH SPEED INTERNET MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANK ACCESS TO INTERNET
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/324661645626308936/The-Impact-of-Internet-Access-on-Innovation-and-Entrepreneurship-in-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37059

id	okr-10986-37059
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-370592022-03-03T05:10:42Z The Impact of Internet Access on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa Houngbonon, Georges Vivien Mensah, Justice Tei Traore, Nouhoum PROCESS INNOVATION PRODUCT INNOVATION HIGH SPEED INTERNET MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANK ACCESS TO INTERNET This paper investigates the effects of access to high-speed internet on innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa. The identification strategy exploits the staggered arrival of submarine internet cables to the coast of Africa and the subsequent rollout of terrestrial fiber network across the continent. The findings show a positive effect of access to high-speed internet on innovation at the firm level, with availability of digital skills within the firm playing a key role in the internet-innovation nexus. The paper also finds evidence of internet-induced entrepreneurship: the probability that a household establishes a non-farm business increases when connected to the internet. However, the increase in entrepreneurial activities is largely concentrated in the service sector. 2022-03-02T20:41:06Z 2022-03-02T20:41:06Z 2022-02-23 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/324661645626308936/The-Impact-of-Internet-Access-on-Innovation-and-Entrepreneurship-in-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37059 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research Africa
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	PROCESS INNOVATION PRODUCT INNOVATION HIGH SPEED INTERNET MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANK ACCESS TO INTERNET
spellingShingle	PROCESS INNOVATION PRODUCT INNOVATION HIGH SPEED INTERNET MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANK ACCESS TO INTERNET Houngbonon, Georges Vivien Mensah, Justice Tei Traore, Nouhoum The Impact of Internet Access on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa
geographic_facet	Africa
description	This paper investigates the effects of access to high-speed internet on innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa. The identification strategy exploits the staggered arrival of submarine internet cables to the coast of Africa and the subsequent rollout of terrestrial fiber network across the continent. The findings show a positive effect of access to high-speed internet on innovation at the firm level, with availability of digital skills within the firm playing a key role in the internet-innovation nexus. The paper also finds evidence of internet-induced entrepreneurship: the probability that a household establishes a non-farm business increases when connected to the internet. However, the increase in entrepreneurial activities is largely concentrated in the service sector.
format	Policy Research Working Paper
author	Houngbonon, Georges Vivien Mensah, Justice Tei Traore, Nouhoum
author_facet	Houngbonon, Georges Vivien Mensah, Justice Tei Traore, Nouhoum
author_sort	Houngbonon, Georges Vivien
title	The Impact of Internet Access on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa
title_short	The Impact of Internet Access on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa
title_full	The Impact of Internet Access on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa
title_fullStr	The Impact of Internet Access on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa
title_full_unstemmed	The Impact of Internet Access on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa
title_sort	impact of internet access on innovation and entrepreneurship in africa
publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate	2022
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/324661645626308936/The-Impact-of-Internet-Access-on-Innovation-and-Entrepreneurship-in-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37059
_version_	1764486521876905984

The Impact of Internet Access on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa

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