The Commercialisation Void — Key Data Points (Chart 3D)

Selected statistics on Africa's university-industry pipeline failure · Section 3: University-Industry

Kenya · Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology (JKUAT)
83
Total IP assets held (patents, utility models, trademarks, designs, copyrights)
Patents held 26
Patents licensed to industry 0
Utility models licensed 0
Trademarks commercialised 4 of 32
Staff with IP awareness ~15%
JKUAT share of Kenya public university patents 33%

JKUAT holds the most patents of any Kenyan public university — yet the commercialisation rate is effectively zero. 80% of Kenyan researchers who have developed innovations have not protected them at all.

Ethiopia · Nation-wide higher education system
2
International patents filed in Ethiopia's entire history of higher education (est.)
Years of formal higher education 70+
Total resident patent filings (2023) 82
Growth in filings (2022→2023) +28.1%
AAU innovation policy formalised 2022
Contract research & industry projects Near-zero
Public universities established since 2000 50+

Ethiopia expanded its university system dramatically in two decades. The knowledge infrastructure never kept pace. A 28.1% growth in patent filings sounds promising — until you see the denominator is 82.

0.5%
Africa's share of global patent applications (WIPO 2024)
60%
SA universities that say they cannot commercialise their own IP — despite having a TTO (NIPMO survey)
79%
SA university licences that go to foreign-owned firms — research is local, commercial benefit flows out

Sources: JKUAT IP Directorate / Science Africa; WIPO World IP Indicators 2024 & 2025; ARIPO 2023 Statistics; NIPMO/SARIMA National IP & Technology Transfer Survey; WEF University-Industry Collaboration Report 2022; UCT TTO 2024. Research Reporter source: BETA-68 / sections-1-3-4.md.

BETAR.africa Data & Visual Journalism · Q1 2026 Research-to-Revenue Gap Report · Section 3 · BETA-67