Taiwan fell four places to 17th place among 127 economies worldwide and ranked last among the “Four Asian Dragons” in the “networked readiness index (NRI),” a measure of competitiveness in the information, communication and technology (ICT) industry, a report from the the Geneva-based World Economic Forum showed.
The forum yesterday released The Global Information Technology Report 2007-2008, which is considered the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT on the development process and competitiveness of nations.
In the rankings, designed to examine how prepared countries are to use ICT effectively, Taiwan dropped to 17th place among the countries covered by the report, while Korea climbed 10 places to ninth position, overtaking Taiwan for the first time.
Taiwan was also placed behind Singapore, which ranked fifth, and Hong Kong, which ranked 11th.
“Korea offers a textbook example of how to quickly and advantageously join the knowledge economy, by adopting an integrated public-private strategy focused on Information & Communications Technology (ICT), innovation and education,” said Irene Mia, senior economist of the forum’s Global Competitiveness Network, in a press release.
Despite losing some ground this year, the report said, Taiwan is still ranked at a “satisfactory” place overall, showing its resilience as one of the world’s largest ICT exporters and producers and a leading innovator.
Taiwan ranked first place for high-tech exports and third for the number of registered utility patents, the report found.
“Taiwan’s development story is a textbook example of how a resource-poor rural economy can transform itself in the short span of three decades into a ICT powerhouse, thanks to coherent e-leadership from the government,” it said.
Denmark is the most networked economy, followed by Sweden, Switzerland, the US, Singapore, Finland, the Netherlands, Iceland, Korea and Norway.
China improved two places to 57th this year, showing weaknesses in its underdeveloped ICT infrastructure and scarce individual usage rates.
The index featured in the report covers three dimensions: general business as well as the regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT; the readiness of the three key stakeholder groups — individuals, businesses and governments — to use and benefit from ICT; and their actual usage of the latest information and communication technologies available.
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