The GITR attributes Denmark's outstanding levels of networked readiness to "the country's excellent regulatory environment, coupled with a clear government leadership and vision in leveraging information and communication technologies (ICT) for growth and promoting ICT penetration and usage".
The US lost its top position and dropped 6 places to 7th, "mainly due to relative deterioration of the political and regulatory environment". However, the country maintains its primacy in innovation, driven by one of the world's best tertiary education systems and its high degree of cooperation with the industry as well as by the extremely efficient market environment displayed, states the report.
Countries from Asia and the Pacific continue to do well this year, with Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Australia and Korea occupying 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 19th positions, respectively. Taiwan and Korea, however, are losing some ground from last year (down 6 and 5 positions respectively).
With respect to the largest emerging Asian markets, both India and China show a downward trend with India 4 positions down to 44th and China 9 positions down to 59th.
Notwithstanding some specific clusters of ICT excellence in both countries, their performance overall in leveraging ICT for increased development appears to be particularly hindered by weak infrastructure, with a very low level of individual ICT usage for India and of individual and business readiness and usage for China, the report states.
Recognising the importance of ICT as a driver of growth and prosperity, the World Economic Forum (WEF), jointly with INSEAD since 2002, has produced the GITR since 2001, assessing the progress of networked readiness in over 100 economies (this year, it's 122) and providing an authoritative instrument for facilitating public-private dialogue, according to Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF.
Each year, the GITR (sponsored by Cisco) selects a few issues that have with a particular relevance for countries' networked readiness. This year, it has looked closely at four special areas: networks and changes in every day life; generation networks in telecommunications; cities' e-government and global competition; and filtered Internet and the moral dilemma for multinational corporations.
Soumitra Dutta, Chaired Professor of Business and Technology, Dean of External Relations at INSEAD and co-editor of the Report, explained: "The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) provides a snapshot of countries' weaknesses and strengths with regard to ICT development and capacity to leverage the latter for increased competitiveness, thus offering policy-makers and business leaders a neutral platform for discussion and a useful tool in drawing a roadmap towards increased networked readiness."
| Networked Readiness Index Variation 2005-2006 | ||||
| Countries |
Score 2006 |
Rank 2006 |
Rank 2005 |
Evolution |
| Denmark | 5.71 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Sweden | 5.66 | 2 | 8 | 6 |
| Singapore | 5.60 | 3 | 2 | -1 |
| Finland | 5.59 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| Switzerland | 5.58 | 5 | 9 | 4 |
| Netherlands | 5.54 | 6 | 12 | 6 |
| United States | 5.54 | 7 | 1 | -6 |
| Iceland | 5.50 | 8 | 4 | -4 |
| United Kingdom | 5.45 | 9 | 10 | 1 |
| Norway | 5.42 | 10 | 13 | 3 |
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