According to the fifth World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report 2005-2006, there was a significant improvement in regulatory environment, governance, education, and training in some of the Philippines' neighboring countries in Asia, both in the Southeast and the Pacific. Some of these countries are Malaysia (24th from 27th), and Thailand (34th from 36th), while Indonesia finished at 68th place.
The survey was based on the Network Readiness Index (NRI), which refers to the degree of preparedness of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from ICT developments. It is used to measure the tendency of countries to use ICT for development. The survey covered 115 countries worldwide.
The NRI determines a country's ICT condition based on three factors:
-- Macroeconomic, regulatory and infrastructure environment;
-- Readiness of individuals, businesses and governments to exploit IT and network technologies; and
-- Actual usage of the latest technologies.
The U.S. replaced Singapore on the top spot, rising four places this year -- reaching the top spot for the third time in five years.
According to Augusto Lopez-Carlos, director of the Global Competitiveness Network at the World Economic Forum and co-editor of the report, America's impressive performance is based on an outstanding ICT physical infrastructure, a broadly supportive market environment, and high levels of business and government usage of the latest technologies.
'The US also continues to lead the world in technological innovation, helped by the excellent quality of its institutions of higher education and extensive levels of cooperation between its research centers and the business community,' Lopez-Carlos said.
However, Taiwan leads other countries in Asia-Pacific at 7th place followed by Hong Kong, Korea, Australia, and Japan occupying ranks 11, 14, 15, and 16, respectively. The survey described Taiwan's achievement as 'noteworthy' as it gained eight positions from last year and entered in the top 10 for the first time.
Singapore, in second place overall, maintains its commanding position, having achieved a top-three ranking for the fourth consecutive year.
According to the report, Singapore has an excellent regulatory environment, world-class levels of education and training, and a government that is committed to enhancing the use of the latest technologies across all sectors of the economy -- all in a context of excellent macroeconomic management and persistent efforts to improve the institutional environment for economic activity.
The report also indicated India broadly maintained its position with respect to last year (at 40th place) while China dropped nine positions to 50th place, widening the performance gap with respect to India.
Nordic countries maintain their positions at the top of the rankings, with Denmark, Iceland, Finland, and Sweden at numbers 3, 4, 5 and 8, respectively. Nordic countries have registered consistently high ICT penetration rates and have occupied places in the top 10 positions over the last five years.
The high rankings of Nordic countries reflect the same set of factors that have propelled these economies to the top of the world competitiveness league, the report said. These factors include highly developed educational institutions which have fostered a strong culture of innovation; transparency in government which has contributed to the emergence of a friendly climate for new business ventures; and a strong predisposition to adopt the latest technologies, in government, the business community, and civil society.