Key Take-Aways from the GITR 2012

The GITR is more than a list of 142 countries’ Networked Readiness; they also provide a view of how the industry of technology is developing in each country and taken together; this provides a global view of the world’s economic and social development.

This year’s report,  “Living in a Hyperconnected World,” reveals several key findings:

•  Leveraging high-speed connectivity is crucial for competitiveness.
•  Countries performing strongly in the Networked Readiness Index all have a “holistic” strategy to developing technology; there are no weaknesses in any of the key metrics
•  Defining technology standards by the existence of technology infrastructure is not enough; components such as affordability and skills are crucial to success.
• The “digital divide” still exists – not just in terms of infrastructure but also in terms of the skills necessary to make use of technology to better social and economic conditions. The main divide is between developed and non-developed countries (broadly, between the industrial northern hemisphere and the commodities-driven southern hemisphere); however, within regions thee are also significant divides: within Asia Singapore is in the #2 position globally, while other Southeast Asian countries are at the bottom of the NRI list.

Correcting these differences so that skills and affordability/access are present along with infrastructure is one of the challenges facing the hyperconnected world today.