The observatory aims to provide a wide set of indicators in order to better inform the decision making process for the public and private sector.

The SCO is an innovative analytical tool which improves and complements existing methodologies and data. The aim of the observatory is to provide credible and reliable indicators grouped in 2 categories:

• Attractiveness and competitiveness - by analyzing the economic and institutional environment of production and highlighting price and cost competitiveness of productive sectors.
• Sustainability and vulnerability - both of these determine sustainable patterns of development which face various structural shocks which affect human capital or the environment.

The comprehensive nature of the observatory makes it different from other databases designed to shed light on specific aspects of competitiveness (Doing business, World Economic forum, etc.).

The observatory has several objectives:

• To gather the available information from a wide range of sources, collection of raw data to measure sustainable competitiveness,
• To compare resources and outcomes, paying particular attention to both macroeconomic and microeconomic aspects and to aggregated and sectorial data,
• To evaluate national performance adjusted for the impact of certain exogenous environmental factors,
• To address the sustainable nature of competitiveness in relation to various sources of structural vulnerabilities.

The difficulty of collecting reliable data on Africa is a challenge in itself. For this reason, the expected benefits of this project are significant. Restricting the observatory to a single continent does not exclude the possibility of broadening it later.

The observatory aims :

• For public and private sector, national and international organizations - to provide them with information on countries where they might invest, expand their activities, or in contrast where they want to pull out. Based on analysis of production costs, competitiveness and stability of the environment, the SCO provides a thorough description of export opportunities and new domestic, or regional market outlets.
• For policy makers - starting with African governments – to provide information on the factors that sustain growth and drive progress, in order to tackle obstacles and promote diversification as well as develop infrastructure networks.
• For bilateral and multilateral cooperation agencies – to provide access to relevant data on positive and negative factors affecting competitiveness, help guide the nature of their cooperation and projects by focusing on the most effective social and economic impact.