13 April 2012
The 2012 Global Information Technology Report (GITR) was released last week. The World Economic Forum and the European Institute of Administration (INSEAD) have measured changes in the “hyper-connected world” since 2002. This year’s survey involves 142 countries accounting for 98% of global gdp. Each country is measured on a series of ICT readiness “pillars”.
New Zealand moved to 14th place overall, up from 18th last year and passing Australia which has remained in 17th place.
Sweden was again rated best, with the rest of Scandinavia not far behind.
New Zealand has a conducive environment to developing and leveraging ICT. Our public institutions are assessed as particularly well functioning and efficient (3rd place). We are seen as having a high degree of readiness, “thanks to the excellent skill base of the population” (6th place) and world-class infrastructure (9th place). Affordability is “the only real weakness of New Zealand” (63rd place).
The Report claims that success in the digitisation world requires that policymakers and business leaders build “right-to-win” capabilities. Digitisation is more than access. It multiplies the impact of connectivity. Incremental value is shown in job creation and economic growth.
It also results in social well-being and government transparency. This is evident from a strong comparability between GITR ratings and Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. With the exception of Taiwan, Israel and Korea, the top 20 countries are within a ‘dozen or so’ places of a similar rating on the CPI.
The top 20 places in the 2012 Global IT report are as follows:
Sweden
Singapore
Finland
Denmark
Switzerland
Netherlands
Norway
United States
Canada
United Kingdom
Taiwan
Korea
Hong Kong
New Zealand (14th)
Iceland
Germany
Australia
Japan
Austria
Israel
Integrity Talking Points 