In its annual report on global competitiveness, the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Malta as the 21st country in the world which is most technologically-ready, up from 30th place the previous year. 125 countries were surveyed in all.
The 21st world ranking in technology readiness puts Malta ahead of major competitors such as Spain, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Slovenia, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, Italy, Greece, Lithuania, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and others.
Malta’s technology ranking relies on Malta’s strong performance in various aspects of technology take up and use. Malta’s Government has the world’s 12th highest rate of technology usage among all surveyed Governments and technology use is also high ranking at 23rd, ahead of Italy, Ireland and Estonia, Cyprus among others.
Other strengths of Malta are the Government’s readiness to use technology (23rd world ranking) and an advanced infrastructure environment (21st world ranking).
This is the second international recognition of the results of the Government’s work in this sector, that were recognised in June 2006 by the EU commission report that
ranked Malta the 2nd EU country in the eGovernment rankings.
The World Economic Forum report on global competitiveness as well as its specialist report on technology (The Global IT Report 2005-2006) and the weight they attach to results in the ICT sector and the take-up of ICT in the public sector to the overall ranking of competitiveness, confirms the importance of the Government’s strategy to invest strongly in these sector.
Meanwhile, Malta’s eGovernment programme has reached a level of sophistication (third highest in the EU) which is recognised as world-wide best practice.
On the other hand, Malta remains relatively weak in its world rankings for take-up of technologies by the business community (Business Readiness ranking 72nd).
Minister Austin Gatt expressed his satisfaction at the WEF results and Malta’s improved world ranking in this sector. “Our success did not fall spontaneously like rain from an unclouded sky. We worked hard and we are passing test after international test that recognises our achievements as a country and as a people. The years ahead will be of even greater challenge. We not only must keep our high-ranking but also improve on it as others try to overtake us. I had full confidence in Malta’s prospects when we first started this project 5 years ago. Today I have ever more reason to be confident,” he said.
Malta has seen further advances with Internet take-up increasing with almost half of subscriptions using broadband technology. There has also been an increase in the use of mobile phones in Malta and the introduction to the Maltese market of 3G technology is bound to increase manifold the use of broadband Internet in our community.
See also:
Internet and mobile subscriptions up
By MaltaMedia News - Aug 10, 2006, 11:29 CET
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