United Kingdom

The United Kingdom rounds up the top 10 - a marked improvement on last year’s number 15 ranking. The country delivers a consistent, yet perfectible, performance in the Networked Readiness Index and obtains its best marks in the usage and impact sub indexes.

The United Kingdom also ranks 10th in the political and regulatory environment pillar, due in part to the country's restructuring of the entire legal and regulatory frameworks to enable convergence of information technology and communications technology. In reforming policies to encourage competition and remove barriers to investment, the UK allows multiple players without restriction in the market. Its business and innovation environment (19th) would benefit however from reforms to further encourage entrepreneurship. Although the United Kingdom ranks highly in the availability of latest technologies (7th), the tax rates are still burdensome (66th), while the number of days to start a business (58th) create conditions not particularly conducive to innovation.

In terms of readiness, the development of ICT infrastructure and digital content in the UK is ranked 11th with a particularly high ranking in the accessibility of digital content indicator (5th). However, the affordability pillar (27th) shows the cost of accessing ICT is relatively high, particularly due to the cost of mobile telephony (68th) and the cost of fixed broadband Internet (35th).

ICT is pervasive among the population at large (the individual usage pillar is ranked 8th and the government usage pillar is ranked 7th). Specific indicators within these pillars where the UK leads are the use of virtual social networks (ranked 3rd and retaining its position from 2011) as well as the extent of business Internet use (ranked 4th and up two positions from 2011). The Business usage pillar (16th) shows however that firms in the UK could improve in their ability to absorb new technology (22nd).

In terms of economic impact, the extent to which ICT is creating new business models, services and products in the UK is good (7th) as is how ICT is creating new organisational models (remote teams, remote working, telecommuting etc) (3rd). Overall the social impact (9th) is better than the economic impact (14th). The impact of ICT on access to basic services (health, education, financial services etc) does however show room for improvement (27th) as does the extent to which the UK government is becoming more efficient in the use of ICT (29th).

To summarise, in all the sub indices (environment, readiness, usage and impact) the United Kingdom comes in at number 10 or just below which indicates the country is leveraging ICT use but the country still does not play a key leading role globally, as it is systematically outperformed by the Nordics, the Asian Tigers, or both.

USA

The United States is ranked 8th in the Networked Readiness Index 2012. Although this is a strong performance, it nonetheless represents a drop of three places from last year’s ranking and continues a decline which began in 2008 when the country had the number 3 position. The United States features in the top 10 of six pillars, yet fails to figure in the top three. Almost all dimensions of the Networked Readiness Index offer room for improvement.

The country's environment, which is generally conducive for successfully leveraging ICT, is impeded by. a political and regulatory framework which rank 21st due to impediments such as poorly-functioning law-making institutions and regulation that remains burdensome.

The business and innovation environment is more propitious (8th). In this pillar, the availability of venture capital (12th), the tertiary education gross enrolment rate (4th) and the government procurement of advanced technologies (9th) has boosted the United States' score.

In terms of readiness, the country can rely on a very good (6th) and affordable (10th) ICT infrastructure. In order to further boost readiness, efforts are needed to upgrade the skill set of its population (32nd).

In terms of individual usage, the United States fails to play a leading role (18th). Though this number is considered high, it shows that usage is not as widespread as in several other countries, most noticeably the Nordics. For instance, whereas Sweden posts penetration rates of around 90 percent for Internet and PC ownership, the United States’ rates do not exceed 75 percent. Mobile broadband subscriptions are more popular and are highly ranked (8th) with 58 percent of US adults using mobile network applications.

The picture in terms of business usage is brighter, thanks to the country’s innovation capacity (7th). However, the US - once the champion of innovation, challenged only by Japan - has been surpassed during the past two decades by several Asian Tigers, the Nordics, Switzerland, and Israel. Indeed, when taking into account their size, some of these economies are actually more prolific than the United States as measured by the number of patent applications per population. In this business usage pillar, the extent of business internet use in the US is high (8th) although the level at which businesses absorb new technology (18th) could be improved.

Government usage (5th) is highly ranked thanks to the quality of the government’s delivery of online services (2nd) but despite this, the level of priority that the US government places on ICT (31st) lags behind countries from all continents. Rwanda comes in at 3rd in this specific indicator.

In terms of economic impact, the extent to which ICT is creating new business models, services and products in the US is good (10th) as is the way in which ICT is creating new organizational models (remote teams, remote working, telecommuting etc) (2nd). Overall the economic impact (9th) ranks better than the social impact (14th). The impact of ICT on access to basic services (health, education, financial services etc) again shows room for improvement (29th).

Southern Europe

All four of the European Union’s southern countries - Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece - are still lagging behind in terms of ICT uptake and impacts vis-á-vis the rest of Western European economies. In general, despite acceptable levels of ICT infrastructure development, the traditional lag in poorly performing educational and innovation systems does not allow these countries to benefit to the same extent in the potential economic impacts accruing from ICT.

Portugal #33 and Spain #38 benefit from a fairly well developed ICT infrastructure. This is reflected by the international Internet bandwidth values where Portugal ranks 7th and Spain 24th. However, the cost of accessing this infrastructure, especially in the case of Spain (90th), is still high and therefore the uptake rates by individuals and businesses in both countries still lag behind those of more advanced economies. Moreover, the poor quality of the educational system (76th and 98th, respectively) and the traditional lag in research and development and other related innovation investments do not allow these countries to fully leverage ICT and obtain the positive economic impacts of other advanced economies in the European Union. 

"The average performance of Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain is significantly below that of the Nordic countries. The chasm turns cavernous when considering specific dimensions of the NRI. That is the case in the business usage pillar, where the gap between Southern Europe and the Nordics is comparable to that between Developing Asia and advanced economies." 

#48 Italy presents a profile similar to those of Portugal and Spain with a couple of singular characteristics that have relegated the country to this lower position. In addition to the underperformance of the educational and innovation systems, the weak functioning of the political and regulatory environment (85th) hinders the overall functioning of the economy. The second singular characteristic is that the government is clearly lagging behind in the effort to leverage ICT to boost competitiveness (113th). Addressing these weaknesses should be a priority not only to leverage the use of ICT, but to boost competitiveness more broadly.

Greece, at #59 depicts important weaknesses that hinder its capacity to take full advantage of its fairly good ICT infrastructure (42nd). Despite a good ICT penetration at the individual level (49th), both businesses (97th) and the government (102nd) have failed to recognize and fully integrate ICT in their activities. Moreover, in addition to the traditional severe lag in innovation, the political and regulatory environment (87th) contributes to the country’s inability to fully benefit from ICT, both economically (73rd) and socially (77th).

Strategic investments in ICT
In 2007, the Portuguese government launched a national program called Magalhães (Magellan) to provide subsidized laptops with 3G connectivity to all secondary students and teachers in the country using funds from the auction of 3G licenses. In 2008 this initiative was extended to primary school students, and it reached more than 1.3 million students and teachers over a period of three years. The cost of broadband was as low as 5 euros for 2 GB of data per month and laptops including an external 3G USB modem would cost a maximum of 150 euros. This program was widely marketed and publicized both by the government and private partners. The outcome was clear: two years after the start of the program, most of the students and teachers in Portugal had acquired their own laptops.

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

Leading the Arab World, Bahrain, #27 creates a fairly sophisticated enabling environment for entrepreneurship and innovation (11th). This coupled with a good ICT readiness (25th) in terms of infrastructure, affordability, and overall skills, has brought the country to a good position. However, this process has been led mainly by a strong commitment from the government (4th) that has not yet been followed by the rest of the agents with the same intensity, notably the business community (39th). As a result, the positive economic impacts reflecting higher rates of innovation and the shift toward more knowledge-based activities have not yet taken off (54th). Efforts to integrate ICT in a more general innovation ecosystem
at the corporate level should help to boost the desired economic impacts of ICT and technology more broadly.

Qatar appears at #28. The emirate has managed to create one of the best environments for entrepreneurship and innovation worldwide (2nd). This, coupled with the government’s strong commitment to boosting ICT-related infrastructure (27th) and spilling over the effects across the economy (34th) and society (21st), has allowed the country to rank in the top quarter of our sample. On a less positive note, the low levels of competition existing in the ICT and telecommunications sectors (122nd) are affecting the overall affordability of accessing ICT (111th), especially in terms of broadband (109th), hindering a wider diffusion and usage of ICT across the different agents in the country, such as broadband Internet subscriptions (57th).

#30 - United Arab Emirates, presents a profile similar to neighbouring Qatar’s. The government has shown a strong commitment to develop and prioritize
ICT (7th) as one of the key engines to diversify its
oil dependent economy, the country has managed to develop a good ICT-related infrastructure (25th) and a favourable framework for business and innovation (21st). The UAE shows fairly good innovation rates in the form of both new products and services (15th) and new organisational models (21st). However, the country could benefit further from expanding its overall skill base, especially by eradicating adult illiteracy (86th) and increasing tertiary education participation (85th). As in the case of Qatar, liberalizing the ICT and telecommunications markets (117th) would help reduce the high costs of accessing the Internet (94th).

Saudi Arabia at #34 has recognized the importance of ICT as a key driver of its economic transformation. A committed and strong government-led effort (5th) to prioritize ICT (14th) coupled with a favourable environment for business development (17th) has yielded fairly good results to get the country ready for the ICT revolution, especially in terms of infrastructure development (36th). However, boosting higher levels of competition to reduce the costs of communications (85th), improving the skill base by reducing adult illiteracy (98th), and increasing tertiary education participation (65th) should be the immediate priorities to further increase ICT uptake by all agents in the country.

#62 - Kuwait is the laggard in the region in terms of embracing ICT. Despite a fairly good ICT-related infrastructure development, the high costs of accessing it and the population’s relatively low level of skills are affecting the ICT readiness of the country. As a result, Kuwait depicts fairly poor rates of ICT usage (67th) that, coupled with a less business friendly environment for entrepreneurship (56th) than other Gulf Cooperation Council states, result in low levels of ICT impacts (93rd).

"Figure C illustrates the existence of a digital divide within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries stand out remarkably. Five of the GCC member countries place between the 27th (Bahrain) and 40th (Oman) ranks. Most of their governments have embraced ambitious digital strategies coupled with pro-business reforms and massive infrastructure developments as part of their efforts to attract foreign investors and to diversify their economies. This big government-led push is reflected in the strong performance achieved in several dimensions of the NRI where the government plays a critical role, including the creation of an environment and legal framework conducive to business and innovation, skills, and usage of ICT by the government. In those pillars, the GCC average score tends to be very close to the average of advanced economies. The rest of MENA presents a much bleaker picture, with Syria (129th), Mauritania (139th), and Yemen (141st) ranking among the worst performing countries globally."

BRICs

Brazil 

Brazil, positioned #65 benefits from a strong 
level of business ICT usage (33rd). This factor combined with fairly advanced levels of technological capacity (31st) allows the country to achieve one of the strongest performances
 of ICT enabled innovations in Latin America, both in terms
 of new products and services (29th) and more efficient processes (34th). However its overall business environment with its burdensome procedures to create new businesses (138th), high tax rates (130th), high mobile cellular tariffs (133rd) and poor skill availability (86th) hinder the potential of the Brazilian economy to fully benefit from ICT and shift toward more knowledge-based activities (76th) at a faster pace.

Connected Brazil
In Brazil, the telecommunications sector government agencies have a long-standing and active engagement with industry, utilizing mechanisms such as public consultations and keeping an on-going dialogue on key issues. Some of the objectives of Brazil’s National Broadband Program (PNBL), Connected Brazil, are to create opportunities, speed up economic
 and social development, promote social inclusion, reduce social and regional differences, and promote job creation
and capacity building for the population to use information technologies. The Connected Brazil Forum is composed of almost 60 institutions from diverse sectors, public and private, and directly linked with broadband program goals. Mobile communications will play a pivotal role in fulfilling PNBL’s theme of a “fast Internet for all of Brazil” and aid in accelerating mobile broadband access and adoption, increasing local applications development, and decreasing device and service costs.

Russian Federation

At #56 the Russian Federation is one of the best performers amongst the CIS countries. It counts on affordable access to an ICT infrastructure that is superior to its neigbours. However, the vision and commitment of the government to boost ICT as a driver of economic growth is lacking, and the innovation system, which underwent deep restructuring after the collapse of Communism, has not yet been fully reorganized or redeveloped. The Russian Federation still maintains pockets of scientific excellence, but unfortunately they do not seem to spill over into the productive sector. This, coupled with a weak political and regulatory environment and a somewhat entrepreneurship and innovation averse environment affect its capacity to reap the full economic benefits associated with higher rates of technology development. 
Moving forward, in addition to continuing to upgrade and develop their ICT infrastructure, the Russian Federation should improve the quality of the educational systems and build effective innovation systems with the active participation of the private sector. Improvements in these three areas should go hand in hand with more and stronger economic impacts associated with higher rates of innovation and the development of more knowledge-intensive activities.

INDIA India at #69 delivers a very mixed performance, with encouraging results in a few areas and a lot of room for improvement elsewhere, notably in the political and regulatory environment (71st) and the business and innovation environment (91st).

Extensive red tape stands
 in the way of businesses and corporate tax is among the highest of all analyzed countries. For instance, it typically takes four years and 46 procedures to enforce a contract. Starting a business is longer and requires more paperwork than in most countries.

Other variables in the environment subindex are better assessed, including the availability of new technologies (47th), the availability of venture capital (27th), the intensity of local competition (31st), and the quality of management schools (30th).

One of the weakest aspects of India’s performance lies in its low penetration of ICT. The country ranks 117th in the individual usage pillar. There are 61 mobile subscriptions for every 100 inhabitants—a relatively low figure. A mere 7.5 percent of the population uses the Internet. Six percent of households own a PC and broadband Internet remains the privilege of a few, with less than
 one subscription per 100 inhabitants. Fierce competition and innovations for the “bottom of the pyramid” have made India the leader in the affordability pillar, thus providing a significant boost to the country’s readiness. Although penetration is still limited among the population at large, businesses are early and assiduous adopters of new technologies (47th).

The government is placing a great deal of emphasis on ICT as a way to address some of the country’s most pressing issues, including job creation, corruption and red tape, and education. Whether this vision will translate into a transformation of the economy and society remains to be seen. But already ICT is having a small transformational impact on the economy, which is partly reflected in India’s performance in the economic impacts pillar (41st).

CHINA

At #51 China leads the BRICS, the group of large emerging economies. Yet this should offer little consolation in light of the important challenges ahead that must be met to more fully adopt and leverage ICT.

China’s institutional framework (46th) and especially its business environment (105th) present a number of shortcomings that stifle entrepreneurship and innovation, including excessive red tape and long administrative procedures, lofty taxation amounting to 64 percent of profits (124th), uncertain intellectual property protection—it is estimated that almost 80 percent of installed software in China is pirated—and limited or delayed availability of new technologies (100th).

In terms of readiness, the country ranks a low 87th in the infrastructure and digital content pillar, mainly because
 of its underdeveloped Internet infrastructure. China gets high marks in the cost measures (42nd, with a score of 5.7) and to some extent in the education-related variables. Looking at actual ICT usage, figures remain quite low in absolute terms but should be considered
in light of the sheer size of the country. ICT usage by businesses is significant (37th). China is becoming more and more innovative and this in turn encourages further and quicker adoption of technologies. The government is placing great hopes in ICT as a catalyst for future growth, because more traditional sources of growth will dry up. The efforts of the government in promoting and using ICT are reflected in China’s good showing in the government usage pillar (33rd). For the time being, the impact of ICT on the economy remains limited (79th in the economic impacts pillar).

Mobile broadband and healthcare: Detecting cardiovascular diseases in China
According to the World Health Organization, chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) place a grave economic burden on countries. In fact, China will lose US$558 billion between 2005 and 2015 in national income as a result of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. 

CVD is the leading cause of death in China, claiming about 3 million lives a year. A pilot project involving Life Care Networks and the Community Health Association of China uses mobile broadband technologies to address the prevention and care of CVDs in underserved communities. 

China’s Wireless Heart Health project is deploying
a 3G-enabled cardiovascular screening and monitoring system among resource-scarce community health clinics. The system includes smartphones with built-in electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors. The smartphones send patient heart data to cardiac specialists at a 24-hour call center in Beijing. As part of the service, doctors can provide real- time feedback to their patients via text or phone call. 

This project demonstrates how 3G mobile broadband can extend the reach of specialized physicians into under-served areas and enable community health clinics to treat more patients effectively.

The Global Information Technology Report

The last decade has seen information and communication technologies (ICT) dramatically transforming the world, enabling innovation and productivity increases, connecting people and communities, and improving standards of living and opportunities across the globe.

While changing the way individuals live, interact, and work, ICT has also proven to be a key precondition for enhanced competitiveness and economic and societal modernization, as well as an important instrument for bridging economic and social divides and reducing poverty.

The GITR series has been published by the World Economic Forum in partnership with INSEAD since 2001, accompanying and monitoring ICT advances for more than a decade as well as raising awareness of the importance of ICT diffusion and usage for long-term competitiveness and societal well being. Through the lens of the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), the driving factors of networked readiness and ICT leveraging have been identified, highlighting the joint responsibility of all social actors, namely individuals, businesses, and governments, in this respect. The series has become over time one of the most respected studies of its kind.

It has been extensively used by policymakers and relevant stakeholders as a unique tool to identify strengths on which to build and weaknesses that need to be addressed in national strategies for enhanced networked readiness. The results of this year’s report, the eleventh of its kind, will be released on April 4^th, 2012 at 10am EDT (Eastern Daylight Time).

GITR 2011 results in review

For the 2010 - 2011 edition of the GITR, Sweden topped the rankings for the second time in a row, with an outstanding performance across the board. Although some Nordic countries lost some ground with respect to the year before, the others were still amongst the most successful countries in the world at fully integrating new technologies in their competitiveness strategies and using them as a crucial lever for long-term growth. Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland ranked among the top 20, at 3rd, 7th, 9th, and 16th, respectively.

Singapore was stable at 2nd, leading Asia and the world in networked readiness, followed by Finland(up three places from the previous year), Switzerland, and the United States.

Europe continued to display remarkable levels of ICT readiness, with 11 regional economies featuring among the top 20 of the world’s best performers. Besides the Nordics and Switzerland, the Netherlands (11th), Germany (13th), Luxembourg (14th), the United Kingdom (15th), and France (20th) ranked among the most networked economies worldwide.

Asia was home to some of the best performers in the world in the NRI rankings and to the countries that have proven the most dynamic over time. In particular,six economies besides Singapore featured amongst the top 20, namely Taiwan (6th), Korea (10th), Hong Kong (12th), Australia (17th), New Zealand (18th), and Japan (19th). With regard to the largest Asian emerging markets, China consolidated its position at 36th after years of impressive progression in the rankings, while India lost some ground and dropped down five places to 48th.

Although a number of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean region posted notable improvements or consolidated their achievements in networked readiness, last year the region as a whole continued to trail behind international best practices in leveraging ICT advances.

No Latin American or Caribbean economy appeared in the top 20 and only a handful featured in the top 50: Barbados (38th), Chile (39th), Puerto Rico (43rd), Uruguay (45th), and Costa Rica (46th). While Brazil climbed five places to 56th, Mexico was stable at 78th, and Argentina dropped five places to 96th.

The assessment of sub-Saharan Africa’s networked readiness was disappointing, with the majority of the region lagging in the bottom half of the NRI rankings, bar Mauritius (45th) and South Africa (61st). Tunisia consolidated its leadership in North Africa at 35th place, while all other countries in the region, with the exception of Morocco (83rd, 5 places up), followed a downward trend. The biggest decline was that of Libya, which dropped a staggering 23 places to 126th. Egypt (75th) and Algeria (117th) lost 4 places each, although both improved in score. On a more positive note, the Middle East continued to feature prominently in the rankings, with four countries in the top 30, namely Israel (22nd), the United Arab Emirates (24th), Qatar (25th), and Bahrain (30th).