How We Rank, WCIT 2008

As the World Congress on IT 2008 in KL is only a few days away, here's a glimpse of how we fare among countries in the the world in terms of ICT.

Connectivity has been recognized as having a positive impact on transparency, good governance,and democracy. There are also implications of increased connectivity that are currently in the process of being defined, particularly in areas such as urban systems, lifestyles, and quality of life. For example, according to a 2006 technology needs assessment and economic development impact study, high bandwidth connectivity has the ability to enhance a city’s appeal to the “creative class” of knowledge workers. Across the world, increased connectivity has also become a prominent factor in the discourse on strengthening and maintaining social cohesion. Narrowing the digital gap between urban and rural areas has been a priority for our public sector, at least that's what our BN politicians say. The ranking benchmarks how far our gov't has gone to do so. This agenda has also served to placate fears that the rapid advances in technology would benefit urban areas at the expense of those geographic segments that are already struggling with their distance from markets.

Read more about the World Economic Forum's Global IT Report 2007-08 at http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Information%20Technology%20Report/index.htm.
Watch the Report presentation here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YnTba0rcPM.

Now, take a moment to reflect on the implications of the benchmark on our country's future competitiveness against our nearest neighbours. Then, lets think further about how we, as responsible individual, NGO and corporate citizen can respond.