According to the World Economic Forum today, the Nordic countries lead the way when it comes to Information Communication Technology, ICT. Denmark sits proudly at the top of the pile, followed by Sweden in second place, Finland (6th), Iceland (8th) and Norway (10th). Switzerland ranks third, the US 4th and Singapore 5th. The Netherlands are rated 7th while the Republic of Korea occupies the 9th spot.
A press release from WEF today said: “The successful experience of the Nordic countries, Singapore, the United States or Korea shows that a coherent government vision on the importance of ICT, coupled with an early focus on education and innovation, are key not only for spurring networked readiness, but also to lay the foundations for sustainable growth.”
Published for the seventh consecutive year with record coverage of 127 economies worldwide, the Report has become the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT. The Networked Readiness Index (NRI), featured in the Report, examines how prepared countries are to use ICT effectively on three dimensions: the general business, regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT; the readiness of the three key stakeholder groups - individuals, businesses and governments - to use and benefit from ICT; and their actual usage of the latest information and communication technologies available.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
nordic countries lead the way in ict
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2 comments:
Hi Breeze,
Kudos to the Nordic countries for making a mark on the global technological stage. I read the Global Information Technology (GIT) Report press release, which encouraged me to do a little more investigating. I found a posting on the PR Newswire website from Bart van Ark, chief economist of the Conference Board, the global business membership and research organization. He stated “while networked readiness plays an important part in boosting a country’s potential to turn ICT into new products, services and productive business processes, it does not guarantee that the potential will be fulfilled. For example, The Conference Board’s annual productivity report shows Denmark’s productivity growth has slipped from 1.3% in2005 to 0.9% in 2006 and -0.3% in 2007”(prnewswire.com).
I am curious to know how the GIT ranking translates in the PR stream? What does a high-ranking mean for those in the PR environment? Is there a tendency to use technology at a high level? It seems that the there would be a positive correlation, but as it has been revealed this may not necessarily be the case.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/04-09-2008/0004789364&EDATE=
Interesting aspect brought up here. With all the touting of the technology one would have thought that it would increase productivity among its users. The case you make about Denmark could well relate to the other Nordic countries. This just brings up the thought whether too many people perhaps use some of the technology on offer simply as “time wasting gadgets”, thus the drop in productivity?
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