Australia, S’pore top new technological readiness ranking

KUCHING: Aus t ra l ia, Singapore and Sweden top The Economist Intelligence Unit’s new Technological Readiness Ranking for 2018 to 2022.

This ranking considers access to the internet, the digital economy infrastructure and openness to innovation— key elements of today’s most competitive business locations.

In 2013-17 the top- scoring countries were Finland and Sweden. The US and France will join the top ten in 2018-22; Libya and Angola will retain the lowest positions.

The breakdown of scores shows that the Netherlands has the best e- commerce offering, the UK has exemplary e- government services and Taiwan is the world leader for cyber-security.

Emily Mansfield, Country Forecast director at The Economist Intelligence Unit, said: “Technological change is inescapable, and how well prepared governments, businesses and individuals are for disruption is increasingly important.

“The US will climb sharply in our ranking in the coming years as internet access improves, and will remain the world leader for innovation clusters and new patents.

“Meanwhi le, the UK’s position will decline, reflecting comparat ively low R& D spending— a key contributor to productivity growth— and inadequate investment in cybersecurity.”

According to the research, China has seen strong growth in patent applications in recent years, but on our measure of patent grants, as a proxy for innovation, the US is still the clear frontrunner.

Government investment wi l l drive a broad- based improvement in countries’ techreadiness in the next five years, is the key finding of Preparing for disruption: Technological Readiness Ranking, a report released today (June 5th) by The Economist Intelligence Unit.

Spending on e-government, cyber- security and a robust e- commerce environment will increasingly be seen as a policy priority. This report builds on the success of The EIU’s longrunning Business Environment Ranking, which measures the attractiveness of 82 of the world’s largest economies as investment locations.

The EIU’s new ranking focuses on how future- oriented these 82 business environments are. It assesses eight indicators across three categories: Access to the internet, which looks at internet usage and mobile phone subscriptions; Digital economy infrastructure, looking at e- commerce, egovernment and cyber-security; and openness to innovation, exploring international patents, research and development (R&D) spending, and the research infrastructure.