VILNIUS - The three Baltic countries made considerable progress in development of information and communication technologies in the last year, with Estonia making the most impressive progress and leaving behind many more developed countries of Western Europe, a new report released by the World Economic Forum on March 28 stated. Estonia came in 20th among the 122 worldwide economies covered by the report 's Global Information Technology Report - up three positions compared to last year as measured by the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), which rates the propensity of countries to leverage the opportunities offered by ICT for development and increased competitiveness.
Lithuania ranks 39th compared to coming in 44th place a year-ago, while Latvia jumped ahead by nine steps and is now placed 42nd. Denmark tops the list for the first time 's up two places compared to last year. It is followed by Sweden, which was 8th last year, and Singapore, which dropped by one step.
Last year's leader, the United States, dropped 6 places to 7th, while the Netherlands showed the most progress among this year's top 10, moving from 12th place to 6th.
Published for the sixth consecutive year, the report presents a comprehensive assessment of the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on the development process and the competitiveness of nations.
The Networked Readiness Index examines the preparedness of countries to use ICT effectively in three areas: general business, regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT; preparedness of three key stakeholders --individuals, businesses and governments -- to use and benefit from ICT; and actual usage of the latest information and communication technology available.
Estonia, along with sub-Saharan Africa, China and Japan, was honored in a special case study on ICT impact. The Baltic state was also praised by the authors of the report as a country which "stands out for the impressive progress realized in the space of a decade in networked readiness as well as general competitiveness, driven by an efficient government ICT vision and strategy."
Estonia, according to the report, can also claim the world leadership as regards ICT-related legislation, availability of online government services and government ICT use and efficiency.
It also ranks second in the world by government's ICT pervasiveness and third by the extent of business Internet use.
But Soumitras Dutta, author of the case study on Estonia, also notes that "all is not perfect in the land of e-cabinets, Skype, mobile payments and electronic ID cards."
Dutta stresses that Estonia's small and medium-size companies do not invest enough into research and development and that about three-fourths of the investment comes from public sources. This, according to the author, raises questions whether the country "can leverage its knowledge and best practices and turn this advance into a truly a sustainable model."
Lithuania's achievements are less impressive, but the Baltics' largest country may take pride in being second in the world in terms of mobile telephone subscribers per capita and fourth in the amount of time needed to enforce a contract.
However, Lithuania lags when political and regulatory framework and government's ICT readiness is screened. It is ranked 75th by judicial independence, 70th by intellectual property protection and 67th when judged by efficiency of legal framework.
Importance of ICT to government's vision of the future ranked 79th, while government procurement of advanced technical products ranks 71st (to compare 's Estonia's positions are 12th and 33rd respectively).
Latvia, which made a major advance compared to last year's report also is seen as having problems with government's preparedness for ICT development. It ranks 93rd by government procurement of advanced technical products and 96th by government's success in ICT promotion. It also has a problem with availability of scientists and engineers (97th position) and prevalence of foreign technology licensing (80th).
But Latvia can be proud of its 5th place in terms of mobile telephone call costs and having few procedures required to start a business (10th position).
And for Estonia, which has surpassed EU old-timers such as France, Belgium and Luxembourg, there is still much to strive for 's seven EU members are still ahead and the United States is a mere 13 positions away.
