US Regains Top Slot in World ICT Rankings

The USA is, once again, number one in information and communications technology [ICT] as measured by the World Economic Forum. In the group’s latest Global Information Technology Report, the US rebounded from the fifth spot into which it had fallen last year, returning to the top of the standings.

The “networked readiness index” rates each economy on things like regulation and infrastructure, the readiness of individuals, businesses and governments to use ICT, education quality and spending on research and development, and use of ICT in practice. Naturally, this is quantifying the unquantifiable, resulting in a "garbage in, garbage out" problem for the compilers.

The report touts the American ability to develop and adapt the latest technologies to everyday use. Augusto Lopez-Claros, director of WEF’s global competitiveness network, told the Financial Times, “The US has been for many years an ICT powerhouse, and its sustained ability to harness these technologies so effectively . . . provides a standard of measurement for other countries wishing to rapidly improve the living standards of their citizens.”

After the US came Singapore, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Canada, Taiwan, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Not surprisingly, these are largely the same countries that were in the top 15 last year – technology-friendly cultures score well, and culture doesn’t change all that fast. What was something of a surprise was that Japan, still thought of as a world beater in many regards, couldn’t crack the top 15 and was surpassed by Taiwan and South Korea.

Also, Europe was rather weakly represented, with the UK coming first among European nations. Germany (again with an image of such technical expertise) was 17, France 22 and Italy 42. India came in at 40 about where it was last year, which can either be interpreted as “India surpasses some Europeans” or “India makes little progress despite booming tech sector.” China actually dropped 9 places to 50.

Now that Americans are feeling better about themselves, perhaps the federal government could work on getting e-mail for the FBI. As of right now, some agents don’t. Did the WEF know about that?

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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