According to the report prepared and released jointly by INSEAD and the World Economic Forum (WEF), the UAE has risen in the rankings in recent years because of the central role of IT in the government's agenda, particularly almost 100 per cent achieving the e-Government task introduced a decade ago. The UAE secured the 24th rank in the world, leading the MENA region, followed by Qatar (25), Bahrain (30), Saudi Arabia (33) and Oman (41).
The report also suggests the top three GCC countries continued to feature prominently in the rankings in the top 30 global list.
However, the report shows both the UAE and Bahrain rankings have dropped from 23 to 24 and 29 to 30 respectively this time, while Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia have achieved fast progress in IT. Oman's ranking has gone up by nine points while Saudi Arabia five points. (from 50 to 41 and 38 to 33, respectively). The report says: "This reflects the information technology sector's increasing prioritisation in national agendas as a crucial instrument for economic diversification, enhanced efficiency, and modernisation.
"The UAE has risen in the rankings in recent years, demonstrating the increasingly central role that ICT occupies in the government's agenda as an enabling infrastructure for economic diversification and a target sector in itself (ranked third for government readiness). The government's focus in the sector has been matched by an equal interest in, and capacity for, using the latest technologies by individuals (fifth for individual readiness), with a stellar increase in ICT penetration rates over the last few years. Other competitive advantages are in the very ICT-friendly market environment (18) and infrastructure for ICT (28)."
According to the two organisations, the 10th anniversary edition of the report focuses on information and communications technology's power to transform society through modernisation and innovation.
The report, according to INSEAD and the WEF, once again features the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), which ranks 138 economies worldwide by examining the correlation between ICT readiness and economic growth. Similar to the 2009-2010 report, Sweden and Singapore led the rankings by placing first and second in the NRI, respectively. Finland (three) rose in the rankings, followed by Switzerland (four) and the United States (five)," says the study.
"The ICT and the Internet in particular have changed the world dramatically, and all indications point to an even higher rate of transformation of our lives going forward," said Soumitra Dutta, Roland Berger Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD and co-editor of the report.
He further explained: "As the Global Information Technology Report series enters its second decade, we hope it will continue to provide policy-makers and decision leaders from both the public and private sectors a unique reference and tool to address the challenges and opportunities brought about by the transformations 2.0."
Dutta said NRI examines economies worldwide on their preparedness to use ICT effectively on three dimensions -- the general business, regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT; the readiness of the three key societal actors (individuals, businesses and governments) to use and benefit from ICT; and their actual usage of available ICT.
Alan Marcus, Senior Director and Head of IT and Telecommunications at the WEF, said: "Innovation and ICT have proven a crucial lever for long-term growth, with countless social and economic benefits and the capacity to significantly improve people's life around the world.
The co-author of the report further added countries fully integrating new technologies and leveraging the new data revolution in their development and growth strategies are laying the foundations for competitive, resilient economies for the future.
He said this survey of over 15,000 executives provides unique data on many qualitative dimensions important to assess national networked readiness.
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Quelle/Source: Zawya, 13.04.2011
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