Professor Waverman is dean of the Haskayne School of Business at University of Calgary. Oh, and the scorecard is commissioned by Nokia Siemens Networks.
The scorecard measures "dozens of indicators, including technological skills and usage of communications technology," according to Reuters. Sweden "not only has the best current mix of attributes, but it also shows few signs of losing its lead," Waverman told Reuters.
According to Global Telecoms Business, "Useful connectivity is defined as the bundle of infrastructure, complementary skills, software and informed usage that makes ICT the key driver of productivity and economic growth." The study was written by Waverman in conjunction with the economic consulting group LECG.
"By contrast, there is the beginning of a gap in what was once the essence of U.S. leadership in most industrial and service sectors -- education and skills," he remarked. Get ready for a mass exodus of Americans decamping to Sweden for education.
Norway took the bronze medal, followed by Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland. One wonders where Minnesota, with its heavy Scandinavian population, would rank if considered separately.
"Economic recovery and government stimulus packages aimed at boosting broadband deployment and ICT development should provide room for optimism in the coming years," Waverman said. Evidently being Nordic should be cause for great optimism as well.
"The scores are determined by the measurement of a series of indicators for each country in two areas -- infrastructure and usage plus skills -- in the categories of business, government and consumer, with weightings of each of the three specific for each country," GTB explained, adding that the report also considered such factors as "frequent use of internet banking, Internet commerce and e-government offerings."
Australia, the UK, Canada and Japan round out the top ten countries in the "Innovation-Driven Economies" table, which appears to be the code word for "First World countries." There's also a league table for "resource and efficiency-driven economies," topped by Malaysia and followed by South Africa, Chile, Argentina and Russia.
The study praised Malaysia's "good co-operation between the public and private sectors."
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Autor(en)/Author(s): David Sims
Quelle/Source: TMCnet, 11.02.2010
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