Known for the fast development of its computer and information industries, Taiwan now ranks third among all countries worldwide for overall networked readiness, according to the "Global Information Technology Report 2004-2005" released by the World Economic Forum. Taiwan also held the 3rd place in e-government services, and 5th in the area of e-government network usage, up one place from 6th in 2004."
Yeh Chun-jung, chairman of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission under the Executive Yuan, attributed this achievement to the government's active promotion of e-government services in recent years.
Yen said Taiwan's good ratings should be attributed to the government's efforts to promote Internet services in order to reduce government manpower and improve efficiency while upgrading the quality of its services.
Yeh said the government's efforts have been recognized by many countries. Fourteen countries sent experts and officials to Taipei in January to attend a forum sponsored by the RDEC on how to reduce the gap in digital opportunities for people from all walks of life.
The networked readiness index (NRI) is a major international assessment of countries' capacity to exploit the opportunities offered by information and communications technologies. It is also the first global framework to map out factors that contribute to this capacity.
The NRI marks an important step forward by distinguishing between factors that determine the usability of the network.
Of those factors for assessing NRI, Taiwan ranked third in the areas of "government readiness" and "government usage," next only to Singapore and Japan in Asia.
Yen said that the government had requested all agencies to list purchasing of new information technologies and telecommunications equipment as priorities of their administration in recent years.
The goal of buying new technologies and equipment is to set up an electronics platform to provide people with faster and better services, and to improve administrative efficiency. Such services will be expanded to include tourists and expatriates to make them feel at home and to provide more convenience in communicating and doing businesses with the government.
"Many people in this society have learned how to apply for services and to communicate with the government through their home computers, especially with regard to such actions as applying for household registration records," he said.
Yeh pointed to the prevalence of broadband Internet access in Taiwan as another factor for Taiwan's better rankings this year.
According to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the number of Internet accounts in Taiwan, with a population of 23 million, has reached 10.33 million (excluding academic and government accounts).
About 40 percent of Taiwan's households have access to Internet services (including 3.37 million broadband households), and about 9.05 million people are online on a regular basis, Yeh said.
Quelle: eTaiwan News, 12.03.2005
