The benchmarking set out in the Global Information Technology Report is based on a proven framework, developed in 2002 and refined year-on-year, namely the Network Readiness Index. This Index is a composite of 10 pillars aggregating the results of 53 variables aimed at measuring the application and the impacts of ICT. This year’s assessment covered 142 economies: once again, the Nordic countries confirmed their status as advanced digital economies, with Sweden attaining excellent results in all pillars.
Malta has been ranked 26th, one place better than last year, reflecting the relentless effort of the government and ICT stakeholders to enhance our digital position in the global economy. We performed excellently in the pillars related to Government Usage (11th), Infrastructure and Digital Content (16th), Skills (19th) and Social Impacts (19th). Government’s vision and prioritisation of ICT together with its application for public services were remarkably ranked 4th and 7th out of the fully assessed set of 142 economies.
The Report delves into the key emerging trends influencing the evolution of the ICT sector, foremost among them is the onset of global hyperconnectivity, a term the report uses to describe the phenomenon arising out of the exponentially growing Internet penetration, its ever-increasing broadband speeds, the ubiquitous proliferation of mobile devices and the pervasive distribution of social media applications in our day-to-day activities.
Notwithstanding the significant success we registered in this sector, we cannot afford to be complacent. The Report clearly illustrates how relatively emerging knowledge economies, such as Azerbaijan (61st) and Mauritius (53rd), are registering tremendous efforts to grow into the new digital tigers, leveraging on the rapid development of ICT to derive value added and economic benefits.
As an aspiring leader in the digital world, we need to recognise two key drivers that are pertinent to our strategic efforts in the coming years: firstly, the impact that cloud computing services will have on our ICT sector. Cloud-based services are re-shaping the way computing power and applications are consumed the world over. We need to apply our visionary insight and collective collaboration to turn this implied threat into an opportunity for our ICT industry. Secondly, the advanced digital nations’ drive towards the deployment of next-generation networks is creating a new breed of leaders and laggards with the gap in between becoming structural and difficult to bridge. The policy, regulatory and fiscal responses to this developing scenario will be the determining factors in which digital economy group Malta will position itself in the coming decade.
We can either aspire to form part of the top 10 digital economies in the world, attracting talent and capital or we can struggle to compete on the basis of cost, invoking a new sub-culture of mediocrity in the digital world. There is no two ways about the fact that our traditional manufacturing industries will keep migrating towards cheap-labour destinations, making way for value-added knowledge-based operations, leveraging the thousands of knowledge workers we have managed to attract to this vibrant sector.
We now need to make a further quantum leap to achieve the coveted status of global digital leaders: we need to have the courage to dream and the ability to translate dreams into tangible digital strategies aimed at creating high value-added jobs for our knowledge workers.
This will largely depend on the government’s ability and commitment to remain focused on delivering the goods in this sector: from sound and timely policy measures to effective programmes and initiatives targeted at nurturing our human capital into the leading regional skills-base. The time is ripe for the government and industry to chart the next lap in our path for growth, success and global positioning which will determine our economy’s competitiveness.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Claudio Grech
Quelle/Source: The Malta Independent Online, 23.09.2012
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