Ireland In World Top Twenty Networked Countries

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, New York

07 February 2002

A new report from Harvard University's Center for International Development released on Monday at the World Economic Forum in New York has rated Ireland in the top 20 networked countries worldwide.

"The Global Information Technology Report 2001-2002: Readiness for the Networked World." is a new, wide-ranging assessment of countries' ability to exploit information technologies. Not surprisingly the report ranked the United States, Northern European countries and Singapore as the world leaders in what it calls "networked readiness," or the preparedness of countries to participate in the networked world.

Those rated highest are countries with the most highly developed information & communications technologies (ICTs) and the greatest potential to exploit those technologies. A country's overall ranking was tallied according to ratings in certain sub-categories that address factors like information infrastructure, ICT policy, e-government and general infrastructure.

Ireland is placed 19th, just ahead of Korea and Japan. Its relatively high ranking was boosted by the strength of the local software industry; but Ireland put in a bad performance in categories like information infrastructure, ICT policy and worst of all general infrastructure, where it dropped to 30th place.

Ireland, Israel and India were all cited as countries where the local software and services industries have outpaced the development of local infrastructure, and researchers said Ireland "fared poorly" in the overall index relative to its income level.

"Our analysis suggests that the ability of a country to be successful in the networked world depends not only on its income level, but also on key enabling factors such as telecommunications policy, the business climate and the educational system," the report's managing editor Geoffrey Kirkman of Harvard University said in a statement.

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