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Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 4:13
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Subject: FW: Singapore Industrial policy
displaces U.S. economy in technology competitiveness
Singapore Surpasses U.S. As Top Tech
Nation
Forbes.com staff, 03.09.05, 9:45 AM ET
http://www.forbes.com/home/technology/2005/03/09/cx_0309wef.html
NEW YORK - Singapore has displaced the United
States as the top economy in information technology competitiveness, according
to the World Economic Forum's latest annual Global Information Technology
Report released today.
The U.S. drops from first to fifth in the
rankings, which measures the propensity for countries to exploit the
opportunities offered by information and communications technology
(ICT).
Iceland, Finland and Denmark occupy positions two, three and
four out of 104 countries surveyed, with Iceland achieving the most
improvement among the top countries, moving up from tenth last
year.
India and China significantly improved their positions climbing
to numbers 39 and 45, compared to 45 and 51 in 2003, respectively.
The
index examines the readiness of economies according to the general
macroeconomic and regulatory environment for ICT, the readiness of
individuals, businesses and governments to use and benefit from ICT, and their
current usage. (Click here to see full
rankings.)
"Singapore's
remarkable performance," the report says, "is a consequence of the
government's consistent and continuous efforts in fostering ICT penetration
and usage, as well as the quality of the country's educational system and its
able use of foreign technology."
Singapore, which moved up from second
place last year, ranked first in a number of subcategories used to determine
the overall ranking, known as the Network Readiness Index. These include
quality of math and science education, affordability of telephone connection
charges and government prioritization and procurement of information and
communications technology.
The World Economic Forum says the end of the
United States' three years as number one, "is less due to actual erosion in
performance with respect to its past history and more to continuing
improvements by its competitors."
The U.S. remains number one in the
business readiness subcategory and in the quality of its scientific research
institutions and business schools, the availability of training opportunities
for the labor force and the existence of a well-developed venture capital
market.
"Singapore's experience highlights the increasingly central
role played by technology as an engine of growth and competitiveness," says
Augusto Lopez-Claros, Director of the Global Competitiveness Program at
the World Economic Forum and co-author of the report.
"There is a
strong correlation between ICT spending and productivity at the national
level, which is demonstrated in this research as a strong correlation between
the rankings and global competitiveness," says John
Chambers,
president and chief executive of Cisco
Systems (nasdaq: CSCO - news - people ), which sponsored the report.