E-readiness rankings 2008: Maintaining momentum

Since 2000, the Economist Intelligence Unit has assessed the world’s largest economies on their ability to absorb information and communications technology and use it for economic and social benefit. The addition this year of Trinidad and Tobago brings to 70 the number of countries covered in the annual e-readiness rankings.

E-readiness is a measure of the quality of a country’s information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to use ICT to their benefit. When a country uses ICT to conduct more of their activities, its economy can become more transparent and efficient. The e-readiness rankings also allow governments to gauge the success of their ICT strategies against those of other countries, and provide companies wishing to invest overseas with an overview of the world’s most promising investment locations from the perspective of e-readiness. In all, nearly 100 separate criteria, both qualitative and quantitative, are evaluated for each country by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s team of analysts. These criteria are scored on their relative presence (or lack thereof) in a country’s economic, industrial or social landscape. The criteria are organised into e-readiness, such as the connectivity environment, government investment and policy, and the underlying social and cultural attitudes surrounding Internet adoption. The categories, and the individual criteria within them, are weighted according to our assumptions of their relative importance in fostering the country’s information economy. Further details on the methodology can be found in Appendix 1.

In this and previous e-readiness rankings, the Economist Intelligence Unit has worked in cooperation with the IBM Institute for Business Value. IBM provided valuable feedback on the building and refinement of the rankings model and on the written analysis in the report. The Economist Intelligence Unit, however, is entirely responsible for the rankings and for the content of this white paper.

"The rankings illuminate the factors that are driving, or inhibiting, countries' progress in using ICT to advance economic and social development," says Peter Korsten, Global Leader of the IBM Institute for Business Value. "Whether the countries are, as IBM defines them, 'established leaders', 'rapid adopters' or 'late entrants', the public and private sectors must work together to promote the most effective use of digital technology toward this objective."