The key to improving the economic and productivity performance of every country in the world lies with the greater and better-focused use of Information and Communications Technology, according to the Connectivity Scorecard 2009, a unique study by Professor Leonard Waverman, Fellow of the London Business School, and commissioned by Nokia Siemens Networks.
The study measured the extent to which governments, businesses and consumers in 50 countries make use of connectivity technologies to enhance economic and social prosperity. Connectivity is defined as the bundle of infrastructure, complementary skills, software and informed usage that makes communications networks the key driver of productivity and economic growth.
“At a time when governments around the world are looking to jump start their economies with a variety of stimuli packages, the Connectivity Scorecard shows that every single one of them, even the United States, has plenty of room to develop their ICT infrastructure and improve the actual use of it to the benefit of both the economy and society,” said Professor Waverman. “Communications networks are the infrastructure of the 21st century and these networks are very large construction programs. There is great potential for them in using ICT to stimulate growth.”
The Connectivity Scorecard 2009 ranks the United States first in the group of 25 innovation-driven economies, while Malaysia leads a table of 25 resource and efficiency-driven economies. The rankings are determined by the measurement of each country against two criteria — infrastructure and usage plus skills — in the realms of business, government and consumer, with weightings of each of the three tailored to each country. Low scores reflect gaps in a country’s infrastructure, usage or both.
Detailed results for each country is posted online.
http://www.connectivityscorecard.orghttp://www.nsn.com
