Who's on Top in Tech-Readiness?

Two studies published recently rank the world's nations in term of technological achievement, readiness and expertise. Nordic countries like Denmark and Sweden ranked high. Although they rank far from the top spots, Middle Eastern countries like Egypt and Jordan are quickly climbing the charts as they see the importance of technical prowess in achieving global competitiveness.

The Middle East isn't known as a hotbed of technological achievement. However, in the seventh annual "Global Information Technology Report" released on April 9 by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) and French management school INSEAD, the region demonstrated the most improvement in its tech-readiness and expertise of any in the world.

Soumitra Dutta, a professor of business and technology at INSEAD and coeditor of the report, says oil-producing countries have woken up to the fact that diversifying their economies will prove "absolutely critical" in the coming years. "They have to rely on people and on knowledge-based industries," he says. Other countries in the region, especially Egypt and Jordan, also now understand that technological prowess will prove vital to their global competitiveness.

That's the underlying message of the "Global Information Technology Report," which assesses 127 economies on scores of factors ranging from the cost of mobile phone calls and available Internet bandwidth to the quality of higher education. Not just a catalog of technical specifications, the report weighs these measures to determine which economies are best positioned to compete in the information-intensive 21st century economy.

Northern Lights

The conclusion, as in previous studies, finds Nordic countries grabbing five of the top 10 slots, with Denmark and Sweden placing No. 1 and No. 2 for the second year running. Credit widespread Internet usage, supportive government policies and good education. The U.S. came in at No. 4, up three positions from last year. Although the U.S. gets top marks in innovation and education, it's pulled down by "red tape and rigidities" that stifle its business environment, according to the report.

By coincidence, on the same day the WEF report came out, a rival ranking from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) assessing the "e-readiness" of countries around the world also was released. The EIU study used a similar method but also weighed how well economies have sustained their momentum from previous years. It too noted the continued dominance of Nordic and other Northern European countries among the world's most technically advanced, but ranked the U.S. No.1 in light of improved access to fixed and wireless broadband and its more innovation-conducive environment. The U.S. also ranked No. 1 in last year's World Competitiveness Yearbook prepared by IMD, a Lausanne, Switzerland, business school.

Contrary to the results from the WEF, the EIU report also found that some Scandinavian countries are losing their edge because of the strain of maintaining high levels of investment in tech infrastructure. The surprise up-and-comers on the EIU list include Austria (ranked No. 10) and Australia (No. 4). Hong Kong -- ranked 11th by the WEF -- placed second in the EIU study.

Eastern Promise

Singapore, the only Asian nation ranked in the WEF's top 10 last year, was joined this year by South Korea, which advanced an impressive 10 spots to No. 9. "It's such an inspiration," says Irene Mia, senior economist for the Global Competitiveness Network at the WEF and coeditor of the report. Government investments in technology infrastructure and education starting 30 years ago helped South Korea develop from a relatively poor country into an Internet powerhouse, home to Samsung

(By Jennifer Fishbein
Business Week Online)