IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

A new index ranking the 102 “smartest” cities in the world, based on interviews with residents about how technologically advanced their infrastructures and municipal services are, contains just nine cities in the United States — all of which landed outside the top 10.

San Francisco came in at No. 12 on the IMD Smart City Index 2019, the inaugural edition of a survey conducted by the Swiss International Institute for Management Development and Singapore University for Technology and Design. Washington, D.C., Boston, New York City, Denver and Seattle all cracked the top 40, while Chicago and Philadelphia placed at 53rd and 54th, respectively.

The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has released its report on broadband availability among its member nations -- and though the United States is the largest broadband market in the OECD with nearly 70 million subscribers, it is still ranked 15th among the member nations for overall nationwide broadband penetration.

The United States' mixed record of nationwide broadband availability was one highlight of a sweeping examination of trends in broadband penetration and recommendations for the future.

Few developments have had broader consequences for the public sector than the introduction of the Internet and digital technology. Electronic government offers the promise of utilizing technology to improve public sector performance as well as employing new advances for democracy itself. In its boldest formulation, technology is seen as a tool for long-term system transformation. Despite the great promise of technological advancement, though, public sector innovation has tended to be small-scale and gradual.

The 2014 United Nations E-Government Survey, released this week, is the eighth in a series of bi-annual surveys of 193 UN member states assessing advances in the electronic delivery of government information and services. The 284-page report is among the most comprehensive assessments available on e-government trends.

UAE also has the same rank as Sweden, outpacing Spain, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Portugal and Russia in the smart electronic services index

The UAE has added another feather to its cap, by reaching the sixth position globally in the smart electronic services index and the second in the Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII), according to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ (DESA) E-Government Development Index (EDGI) Survey 2018.

The noteworthy advancement that the UAE has made is a rare achievement for a country since the UN started releasing the E-Government Surveys in 2003.

This giant progress was reflected in the overall rank of the UAE in the eGovernment development index. The UAE has advanced from rank 49th in 2010 to rank 28th in 2012. Over this short period, Emirates eGovernment has succeeded in regaining the leading position of the UAE in the field of eReadiness in the region and the world. The UAE had suffered a setback in that field before the activation of the federal eGovernment programme.

The Global Information Technology Report 2007 – 2008, released by the World Economic Forum based on the estimates of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – showed that the UAE ranked first on: internet users rate, international internet bandwidth rate, the importance of ICT to government vision of the future, personal computers rate, ICT use and government efficiency; e-government readiness index, government prioritisation of ICT, laws relating to ICT, and the number of telephone lines.

The UAE has missed the number one spot in the Middle East this year because the UN surveyed the federal portal, which Salem Khamis Al Shair, Director-General of the UAE General Information Authority (GIA) said has been “lagging behind”.

The UAE is thus joining the group of 25 emerging leaders for the first time, after developing at astonishing rates its electronic government services.

Strong support and priority by the government to the information and communication technology (ICT) sector raised the UAE's ranking among the world's most networked economies globally by four positions to 23rd place in a latest study.

According to the World Economic Forum's latest The Global Information Technology Report 2009-10, the UAE's impressive performance in recent years has been driven by a strong and consistent government focus on ICT – second and 29th for government readiness and usage, respectively — as a key factor for its vision for the future.

Huge success and progress in the country’s smart transformation initiatives

The UAE prominently featured major developments in its e-services and ranked high in the latest UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ (DESA) E-Government Development Index (EDGI) Survey 2016, according to UN DESA’s Vincenzo Aquaro, Chief E-Government Branch, Division for Public Administration and Development Management.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai secure impressive top 20 positions in IMD Smart City Index 2024

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has made significant strides in smart city development, according to the latest IMD Smart City Index 2024. Both Dubai and Abu Dhabi secured impressive positions within the top 20 ranked cities globally compared to 2023.

Abu Dhabi climbed three spots to claim the 10th position while Dubai enjoyed a five-place jump, landing at the 12th rank. Notably, Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the only two cities from the Middle East in the Top 20.

The United Arab Emirates has climbed 21 places to stand at 28th rank in the 2012 United Nations e-Government survey of more than 190 countries. It had stood at 49th rank in 2010.

The UAE leads the rest of the Arab World with Bahrain following in at 36th place. The top ranked country was South Korea, followed by Holland, Denmark, USA and France. The last at 190th was Somalia.

Nation has invested heavily in adopting and implementing ICT for smart transformation, TRA says

The UAE has moved up from 40th to 34th in ranking for its use of information and communication technology to improve the quality of services provided by the digital government, a study by the Waseda University Institute of e-Government revealed.

The investigation was carried out in 65 countries.

Goddy Ray, DQL research lead at Surfshark believes that our lives are profoundly affected by our digital well-being as over half of the population is using the internet. By conducting this survey, DQL wanted to understand what matters most for people in the digital sphere and compare digital experiences around the world.

The survey is carried out every two years and takes a deep look into how countries around the world are progressing towards achieving true e-Government status.

"Countries that lead the index and those that have moved up have moved beyond basic e-services to integrated systems that link different institutions and departments offering a single point of contact to the public. This is where Gulf countries shine," the report said.

Three Arab countries — the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain — are ranked among the top 30 countries for harnessing information communication and technology (ICT) to transform society, according to a new report.

The UAE ranked 24th out of 138 countries, Qatar placed 25th while Bahrain was 30th in the 2010-11 Global Information Technology Report Transformations 2.0.

Globally, the top five were Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Switzerland and the US. The report is released annually by the Insead international business school and the World Economic Forum.