{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T01:35:10Z","timestamp":1760060110812,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":73,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1753833600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Guangxi Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Students","award":["202510603320","42301227","60203038919630213","602021239447"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202510603320","42301227","60203038919630213","602021239447"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Science","award":["202510603320","42301227","60203038919630213","602021239447"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202510603320","42301227","60203038919630213","602021239447"]}]},{"name":"Research funding for the 2024 Green seedling Program of the Human Resources and Social Security Department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China","award":["202510603320","42301227","60203038919630213","602021239447"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202510603320","42301227","60203038919630213","602021239447"]}]},{"name":"Nanning Normal University Doctoral Research Startup Project","award":["202510603320","42301227","60203038919630213","602021239447"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202510603320","42301227","60203038919630213","602021239447"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Algorithms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study evaluates the competitiveness and sustainable development prospects of French-speaking African countries by constructing a comprehensive framework integrating the TOPSIS method and adaptive LASSO algorithm. Using multivariate data from sources such as the World Bank, 30 indicators covering core, basic, and auxiliary competitiveness were selected to quantitatively analyze the competitiveness of 26 French-speaking African countries. Results show that their comprehensive competitiveness exhibits spatial patterns of \u201chigh in the north and south, low in the east and west\u201d and \u201chigh in coastal areas, low in inland areas\u201d. Algeria, Morocco, and six other countries demonstrate high competitiveness, while Central African countries generally show low competitiveness. The adaptive LASSO algorithm identifies three key influencing factors, including the proportion of R&amp;D expenditure to GDP, high-tech exports, and total reserves, as well as five secondary key factors, including the number of patent applications and total number of domestic listed companies, revealing that scientific and technological investment, financial strength, and innovation transformation capabilities are core constraints. Based on these findings, sustainable development strategies are proposed, such as strengthening scientific and technological research and development and innovation transformation, optimizing financial reserves and capital markets, and promoting China\u2013Africa collaborative cooperation, providing decision-making references for competitiveness improvement and regional cooperation of French-speaking African countries under the background of the \u201cBelt and Road Initiative\u201d.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/a18080474","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T10:55:37Z","timestamp":1753872937000},"page":"474","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Evaluation of Competitiveness and Sustainable Development Prospects of French-Speaking African Countries Based on TOPSIS and Adaptive LASSO Algorithms"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8376-1694","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Binglin","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Geography and Planning, Nanning Normal University, Nanning 530001, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf, Ministry of Education, Nanning Normal University, Nanning 530001, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Liwen","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Geography and Planning, Nanning Normal University, Nanning 530001, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf, Ministry of Education, Nanning Normal University, Nanning 530001, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8121-788X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hang","family":"Ren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Population Research, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jianwan","family":"Qin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Geography and Planning, Nanning Normal University, Nanning 530001, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf, Ministry of Education, Nanning Normal University, Nanning 530001, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-8705-566X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Weijiang","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"458","article-title":"The competitive advantage of nations: Origins and journey","volume":"25","author":"Huggins","year":"2015","journal-title":"Compet. 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