Published 12-09-03
Submitted by World Economic Forum
“The use and application of ICT remain one of the most powerful engines for economic growth. ICT also continues to be the best hope for developing countries to accelerate the development process. More than ever, we must all intensify our efforts to enable individuals, businesses and governments to benefit more fully from the use and application of ICT,” said Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
Under the theme “Towards a More Equitable Society,” The Global Information Technology Report is released at a time when ICT is widely recognized as a key driver of the process of economic and social growth of both industrialized and emerging economies. More importantly, ICT continues to provide considerable prospects in the development process of less-developed countries. Therefore, in keeping with the theme, special efforts were made to increase the coverage this year to include 20 more developing countries, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa.
“It used to be a common view that information technology and poverty reduction were at the two opposite ends of the spectrum of development policies. This year’s Global Information Technology Report shows that not only have some of the less developed economies started to take advantage of the ICT revolution, but also that networked readiness can be a very powerful tool to fight poverty,” said Bruno Lanvin, Programme Manager of infoDev at the World Bank.
The Networked Readiness Index examines the readiness of economies according to three dimensions: the general macroeconomic and regulatory environment for ICT, the readiness of the three key stakeholders - individuals, businesses and governments -to use and benefit from ICT, and their current usage of ICT.
Soumitra Dutta, Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD, explained: “The Index is designed to assess the success of economies in terms of ICT development and usage and thereby provide a unique and valuable benchmarking tool for policy-makers, business leaders and other stakeholders in society to determine a nation’s strengths and weaknesses with respect to ICT and to evaluate its progress on a continual basis.”
Highlights of the Results of the Networked Readiness Index 2003
The Global Information Technology Report 2003-2004 consists of three main parts: the first part presents several analytical chapters related to networked readiness, as well as a detailed case study on Finland’s success in leveraging ICT for economic development; the second part contains 102 detailed country profiles providing a snapshot of a country’s level of ICT development; and the third consists of data tables with country rankings for each variable that enters the Index as well as a comprehensive section providing statistics on key indicators collected from a wide range of official sources relevant to the study.
The Report is published by Oxford University Press and edited by Soumitra Dutta of INSEAD, Bruno Lanvin of the World Bank’s infoDev and Fiona Paua of the World Economic Forum.
Should you require further specific information about the Report, please contact public.affairs@weforum.org or gcp@weforum.org.
General information on The Global Information Technology Report 2003-2004 and other similar publications by the World Economic Forum is available at http://www.weforum.org/gitr.
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