Digital economy rankings 2010 Beyond e-r…

Digital economy rankings 2010 Beyond e-readiness :
“The top performers in the 2010 digital economy rankings—led this year by Sweden (1st), which dislodged the perennial e-readiness leader, Denmark (2nd), by a narrow margin—demonstrate a high degree of connectivity and score well on all fronts, from the quality of their business and legal
environments to social and cultural drivers of digital progress, the existence of sound public policy on
ICT, and the levels at which consumers and businesses actually use digital services. This underscores
our long-standing premise that progress towards a fully digital economy requires concerted action
across all the areas addressed in the rankings.
As in past years, the quantitative evidence suggests that the digital divide is narrowing. Where 5.9 points (on a 1-10 scale) separated the top-ranked country from that of the bottom ranked in 2009, that differential narrowed to 5.5 points in our 2010 study. Likewise, the gap between the first and last countries in the top half of the table narrowed to 2.4 points this year from 2.8 one year ago. This
is partly due to the aforementioned modifications to our rankings model which, in “raising the bar”,
have had a larger dampening effect on the scores of top-tier countries than on those in the lower tiers.
However, given the increased attention to fast-growing emerging markets by global businesses seeking
growth in the recovery, investment levels and wealth levels—and as a result levels of digitalisation—
are likely to rise even more rapidly, and the divide may indeed continue to narrow.
The divide is eroding in another way, one which cannot be as precisely measured by comparative
scores. Innovative digital practices and applications are arguably being conceived and put in practice
in the emerging world faster than in the developed world. Simply put, there are no alternatives but to
become “more digital” with whatever assets are available. Mobile data tools and services are one area
where the emerging world equals or outpaces the developed world in usage habits; the use of ICT as
a platform for building capacity in education services is another. There is always variance, of course,
and room for improvement. But the digital economy rankings demonstrate that there are many ways to
harness the power of the Internet to improve economic prospects and the lives of people.”
URL : http://graphics.eiu.com/upload/EIU_Digital_economy_rankings_2010_FINAL_WEB.pdf