From the concept of innovation support centres to intellectual capital

Business creation is the driving force behind any development model that ensures growth, sustainability, employment and economic and social development. A number of organisations with different legal statuses have been set up to support business creation in several developed and emerging countries. In Africa, the major obstacle is the lack of structures for commercialising inventions that address technical and financial concerns. Thus, the establishment of innovation support centres is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of technological innovation on our continent. Indeed, there is now an increasing focus on innovation, as described by SCHUMPETER, who goes further by identifying innovations as the essential driving force behind economic evolution: ’It is the innovative entrepreneur who, by breaking with the routine of production, transforms the economy from a static to a dynamic state. Similarly, it is the clusters of innovation within the 'perpetual hurricane of creative destruction' that give rise to the mechanisms which imbue economic activity with its distinctive rhythm.