The Connectivity Scorecard 2009 study, authored by LECG Director Professor Leonard Waverman, is a global index, which measures the extent to which governments, businesses and consumers in 50 countries make use of connectivity technologies to enhance social and economic prosperity. The results unveiled that the key to improving both the economic and productivity of every country in the world lies with the greater and better-focused use of ICT.
The Top Five in the Connectivity Scorecard are: USA, Sweden, Denmark, Netherland, Norway, UK.
Commissioned by leading global enabler of telecommunications, Nokia Siemens Networks, Professor Waverman, who is also fellow of the London Business School and Dean of the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, found that even the best connected countries, in terms of infrastructure, complementary skills, software and informed usage, have no reason for complacency when it came to their use of ICT.
The Connectivity Scorecard 2009, which has doubled the number of countries covered in the ground-breaking 2008 study, ranks the US first in the group of 25 innovative economies, while Malaysia leads a table of 25 resource and efficiency-driven economies[1].
Professor Waverman said, “At a time when governments around the world are looking to jump start their economies with a variety of stimuli packages, the Connectivity Scorecard shows that every single one of them, even the United States, has plenty of room to develop their ICT infrastructure and improve the actual use of it to the benefit of both the economy and society.”
Below the United States in the innovation-driven economy group, the Connectivity Scorecard confirms the reputation of Scandinavia as a technologically powerful region with Sweden, Denmark and Norway all ranked in the top five, and the Netherlands, a new entrant in 2009, making up the top quintet. Japan (10th) and Korea (18th) repeat their surprisingly low performances of 2008 as do Germany (13) and France (15). The poor showing of southern European economies is also repeated as Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece share the bottom slots in the table with eastern European nations.