Not that it’s really quite so relevant to the entertainment industries, but the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) operates a number of e-readiness rankings across all the major global economies ‘ and this year’s are out with only 9 countries up, and 61 of them down. It defines e-readiness as a country’s ability to harness technology for social and economic development, and is measured using tests devised by the IBM Institute for Business Value. It says that it is also about how individuals and businesses consume digital goods and services. Hence its relevance to us – you can hardly have a new internet based business model for video if consumers can’t get high speed internet access.
Over the past year, the economic crisis has constricted availability of credit, led governments to entertain protectionist measures’including in the technology sector’and dampened foreign investment and support for private enterprise. All 70 countries in the e-readiness rankings have seen their business environment scores drop in 2009’an important reason why all but nine countries registered lower overall e-readiness scores this year compared with 2008. Scores also fell because this year’s rankings now cover ICT usage not just its availability.
Last year the US had been top of the e-readiness pile, but a previous leader, in Denmark, is now on top, the EIU said. Other north European countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway’having, among other attributes, high levels of technology usage’have reaffirmed their places among the top ten e-readiness countries or, in the case of Norway, climbed into this tier. Meanwhile, the US and UK, whose business environments have been hit particularly hard in the past year, have each fallen a few rungs.
“The results of this year’s research underscore the fact that digital development does not take place in a vacuum,” says Robin Bew, Editorial Director of the Economist Intelligence Unit. “Tough economic conditions can constrain the drivers of technology adoption and use. Policymakers can help maintain the momentum of digital advancement, but above all they should refrain from introducing protectionist measures, which will only make matters worse.”
Emerging markets continue to rack up big advances in connectivity, which is particularly notable in the Middle East and Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America but there is still a large gap between these and more mature markets.
The governments of Mexico, Jordan and Vietnam, for example, have made substantial progress in recent years in making digital channels available to citizens for information provision and consultation (“e-participation”).
Many countries have economic stimulus packages designed to hasten recovery have big technology infrastructure projects wrapped up in them and this will speed e-readiness EIU says.
China has had a marked increase in its protection of local technology industries and some stimulus programs have a protectionist sting in their tail.