Rwanda was ranked first worldwide in government success to promote Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
According to the Global Information Technology report 2015, Rwanda scored 6.2 points out of a possible seven.
The GIT report is compiled by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum. Overall, Rwanda was ranked 83 out of 143 countries surveyed covering all categories, but first in East Africa and 5th in sub-Saharan Africa.
"Rwanda continues to be one of the fastest growing African countries in ICT and there are several avenues for growth for the ICT sector from e-commerce and e-services, mobile technologies, applications development and automation to becoming a regional centre for the training of top quality ICT professionals and research.
"A robust ICT industry creates wealth, jobs and entrepreneurs," Jean Philbert Nsengimana, the Rwanda's Minister of Youth and ICT said in a statement last week.
Since 2001, the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) assesses on an annual basis: the factors, policies and institutions that enable a country to leverage information and communication technologies (ICTs) for shared prosperity.
This assessment is based on an aggregation of 53 individual indicators grouped in four main components: environment, readiness, usage and impacts. The individual indicators use a combination of data from publicly available sources and the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, a global survey of 13,000 business executives conducted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with its network of 160 Partner Institutes.
Assessments are made of the factors, policies and institutions that enable countries to leverage ICT for increased competitiveness and well-being. Government success in ICT promotion is one of several sub-indexes in which Rwanda excelled.
Nsengimana said, "New developments include K-Lab, a youth innovation hub, Think a technology hub in Kigali, Rwanda Media Hub, The Office and YouthConnekt, which connects the youth to role models, resources, skills and employment opportunities.
"The new Kigali Innovation City, which has already attracted the first Carnegie Mellon University campus in Africa, presents a unique opportunity for not only real estate developers, but also tech multinationals who want to provide the best living, learning and working environment to their global and home grown talent. Many young Rwandans have turned their ideas into innovative companies. Many are starting a business when they graduate from university," he said.
Rwanda aims at turning into a knowledge- based economy which the country cannot achieve if the ICT sector is not developed to high standards.
ICT has been chosen by the government of Rwanda as one of the key enablers that will help to achieve Rwanda's vision of economic growth and social development.
This focus on development of ICT in Rwanda is targeted to be enhanced by the additional focus of making Rwanda an ICT hub for the region.
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Quelle/Source: AllAfrica, 19.04.2015
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