Our advantages in information and communication technologies are shrinking, according to a report from the Conference Board of Canada. In the board's annual Connectedness Index, released Tuesday, Canada's four-year-long position as the world's second-most-connected country is being challenged. Sweden now shares the second-place position, with Finland, Britain, Australia and Germany closing the gap.
And broadband is taking off in the United States, where Internet-enabled households using a high-speed connection rose from 33.8 per cent to 46 per cent, the April Broadband Report states, shrinking Canada's lead by 9.2 per cent. Canadian broadband penetration rose from 64 per cent to 67 per cent.
Canadian advantages in information and communication technologies are also shrinking, the Conference Board of Canada said.
In the board's annual Connectedness Index, released Tuesday, Canada's four-year-long position as the world's second-most-connected country (after the United States) is being challenged. Sweden now shares the second-place position, with Finland, Britain, Australia and Germany closing the gap.
The rankings are published in the Conference Board report called Cashing in on Canadian Connectedness: The Move to Demonstrating Value. The index ranks 10 countries in four subcategories — availability of ICT, price, reach and use.
Canada leads in price, because charges for Internet access, phone connections, local and long-distance calls are low.
But we has fallen behind the United States in e-business, such as Internet purchases and business-to-business e-commerce. The United States also leads in availability of information technologies.
"Simply being well connected is no longer sufficient to maintain our competitiveness with other leading countries," said Brian Guthrie, director of innovation and knowledge management at the Conference Board.
"The key is to improve applications and content that can drive the use of ICTs," he said. "Content producers need to go beyond simply posting information to developing content that fosters transactions, interactions and on-line services to attract and retain users — and ultimately create value for organizations."
But Canada achieves "excellent results" in e-government and e-learning services, the report states.
There are, however, opportunities for greater connectivity in the health-care system, which leads the United States in using ICTs in inventory management, but lags in external communications and transactions with other health institutions, such as laboratories and pharmacies, the report states.
Our performance on Internet-access has dropped relative to other countries in the Index and a digital divide persists in favour of younger, better-educated and urbanized Canadians — 72 per cent of rural and remote regions do not have access to broadband Internet.
Quelle: Globetechnology, 28.04.2004
