SA 34th in global ICT ranking
18 March 2005
South Africa ranks 34th out of 104 countries surveyed in the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report 2004/05 - up from 37th place overall in 2003/04, and ahead of such countries as China, Greece, Hungary, Italy and India.
The report, in its fourth year, assesses countries' readiness to participate in and benefit from global developments in information and communication technology (ICT).
Variables taken into account include quality of technical infrastructure, government prioritisation and procurement of ICT, and quality of maths and science education as well as of scientific research institutions and business schools.
Countries are also ranked according to affordability of telephone connections and Internet access, availability of training opportunities for the labour force, and existence of a well-developed venture capital market.
Tunisia in 31st place and South Africa in 34th place strengthened their dominant
positions among the 23 African countries covered by the report. Mauritius came in at 47th overall, while Botswana ranked 50th, followed by Morocco (54), Namibia (55), Egypt (57), Ghana (65), Gambia (74) and Kenya (75).
The United States dropped four places, ceding top billing in the report to Singapore, with Hong Kong and Japan moving into the top 10 and China (41) and India (39) moving up the ranks.
"There is a strong correlation between ICT spending and productivity", said John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, which sponsored the report. "While ICT usage is a measure of the present, ICT readiness is perhaps a measure of the future.
"Proactive policies and investments by all levels of government - such as encouraging broadband network infrastructures, the education and literacy of citizens and ongoing skills training - are all components of the readiness measurement, and play an important role in building the foundations of a country's
productivity."
Singapore's number one ranking, according to the report, was mainly due to its "superior performance in terms of the ability of individuals and government to tap into the potential of ICT, as well as actual government usage of ICT".
Report co-editor Augusto Lopez-Claros, director of the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness programme, said that ICT would "continue to play a growing role in boosting the efficiency of the increasingly integrated global economy, enabling countries to improve resource allocation and boost growth prospects.
"Singapore is an excellent example of a country that has been able to make, in a relatively short period of time, enormous progress in putting ICT at the service of improved living standards", Lopez-Claros said.
"Together with a handful of other economies (Taiwan, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Korea, Estonia, among others), Singapore's experience highlights the increasingly central role played by
technology as an engine of growth and competitiveness, even beyond the borders of the rich industrial countries."
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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