UAE moves up in World Economic Forum's 2014 Network Readiness rankings

DUBAI- U.A.E. has moved up in the latest global rankings of information and communication technology competitiveness (ICT) by the World Economic Forum (WEF), strengthening its position as one of the most techno-savvy countries in the world, with the momentum fueled by a strong government ICT vision enabling U.A.E. to become world’s 24th most “networked ready” nation, moving up from the 25th place a year ago.

“U.A.E. government has been relentless in its pursuit of technological excellence, as is clearly exemplified by bold commitments to smart city development and infrastructural innovations related to events like Expo 2020,” said Rabih Dabboussi, Managing Director, Cisco U.A.E.

Applauding U.A.E. for its continued drive and focus towards becoming one of the world’s most ICT-enabled nations, Cisco, sponsor of the report, said the Global Information Technology Report (GITR), co-published by the World Economic Forum and INSEAD, showed that among the 148 economies, U.A.E. is the world’s 24th most “networked ready” nation, moving up from the 25th place a year ago.

The report measures the effectiveness of various markets in harnessing the power of information and communication technology to boost economic growth and well-being. The report also shows how far some countries have gone in bridging the digital divide.

U.A.E. is ranked second in the Middle East, next to Qatar, in the global “networked readiness index”, but it is ahead of other European countries, including Italy and France.

“The country’s visionary ICT leadership and a determination to adopt a cutting-edge strategy is enabling it to adapt to pressing and ever-changing ICT trends, whether it is the surging growth of big data, or the increasing pervasiveness of technologies in areas such as cloud computing and mobility,” added Dabboussi.

The report found that the U.A.E.’s improved ranking is due to improvements in its ICT infrastructure (where it ranked 30th) and ICT uptake by individuals (29th), both of which have resulted in positive associated economic impacts (27th).

CISCO says the momentum is fueled by a strong government ICT vision (which is once again ranked as the best in the world), which is reflected in the already high and rapidly increasing levels of ICT uptake across all stakeholders. 85 percent of its population use the Internet (14th) and have access to a personal computer at home (18th); government services are largely available online (9th) and e-commerce is relatively well established (20th).

Published under the theme “Rewards and Risks of Big Data”, the GITR’s NRI is the result of a long-standing partnership between the World Economic Forum and INSEAD, and, since last year, with the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.-WAM