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IT readiness? Singapore tops; India 39th!

March 09, 2005 15:15 IST

India has significantly improved its position having climbed to the 39th spot (from 45th last year) in the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report.

The report ranks nations on how good they are at exploiting global IT developments and takes into account the following: affordability of Internet access, telephone connection charges, quality of maths and science education, government prioritization and procurement of ICT.

The United States has dropped five places and ceded top billing in the WEF's Global Information Technology Report to Singapore.

Released on Wednesday, the report ranks Singapore as the top economy in exploiting global IT developments for the first time.

The report places Singapore as the best performer worldwide in a number of categories -- quality of maths and science education, affordability of telephone connection charges, and government prioritization and procurement of ICT -- and gets extremely high scores in other areas, such as affordability of Internet access.

By contrast, the United States drops to number 5 in the ranking, following a three-year reign at the top. However, the loss in rank is less due to actual erosion in performance with respect to its past history and more to continuing improvements by its competitors.

The United States maintains global leadership in the business readiness component of the rankings as well as in variables such as the quality of its scientific research institutions and business schools -- which have no peer in the world -- and the availability of training opportunities for the labour force as well as the existence of a well-developed venture capital market, which has spurred innovation.

With a total coverage of 104 economies worldwide and published for the fourth consecutive year, The Global Information Technology Report has emerged as the world's leading assessment of the impact of information and communication technology on the development and competitiveness of nations.

Under the theme 'Efficiency in an Increasingly Connected World', The Global Information Technology Report 2004-2005 is released at a time of cautious optimism about the short-term global economic outlook and the emergence of a broad consensus about the central role that ICT plays in boosting growth prospects of developed and developing countries.

The World Economic Forum has this year expanded the geographical coverage of the report, with the addition of five new countries from diverse regions of the world (Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Georgia and United Arab Emirates).

"It is clear that information and communication technologies will continue to play a growing role in boosting the efficiency of the increasingly integrated global economy, enabling countries to improve resource allocation and boost growth prospects," report co-editor Augusto Lopez-Claros, Director of the Global Competitiveness Programme at the World Economic Forum.

"Singapore is an excellent example of a country that has been able to make in a relatively short period of time enormous progress in putting ICT at the service of improved living standards," he said.

"Together with a handful of other economies (Taiwan, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Korea, Estonia, among others), Singapore's experience highlights the increasingly central role played by technology as an engine of growth and competitiveness, even beyond the borders of the rich industrial countries," Lopez-Claros added.

Highlights of the report

Soumitra Dutta, Professor of Business and Technology and Dean of Executive Education at INSEAD, co-editor of the report, explained: "The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) has evolved into an accepted global benchmark of an economy's preparation to participate in and benefit from information and communication technology developments. Beyond the mere provision of an annual international cross-section of networked readiness, the publication of the Report may also be seen as a vehicle whereby governments, businesses and individuals can assess progress on a regular basis."

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organisation committed to improving the state of the world.

The Forum provides a collaborative framework for the world's leaders to address global issues, engaging particularly its corporate members in global citizenship.