COUNTRY FOCUS
Government may be biggest laggard
The Global Information Technology Report
2016 data suggests that business usage
and adoption is stagnating or moving only
slowly across regions. This suggests that
a large number of existing firms are not
getting in the game fast enough.
particularly in industries with high
digital content, at the same time that
innovation is accelerating. Several reasons
for this slowdown are put forward: one
driver is the shortening of product cycles,
which is especially evident in industries,
such as audio-visual technologies and
telecommunications, that are most
affected by digital disruption.
In addition, patent pendency times have
been rising. These two developments
combined often make it unprofitable
for firms to patent their innovations. In
addition, the pressure to innovate has
increased to such an extent that many
firms are focusing their resources entirely
on cost-saving efficiency innovation
rather than attempting moonshots.
Thus, although digital innovation is
accelerating, the expectation is that
these trends will be captured less and
less well by traditional innovation
measures in the future.
What makes top countries stand out
Although innovation is clearly on executive
minds, seven countries truly stand out
in terms of their digital innovation
performance. A closer look at their
characteristics reveals very high rates of
business ICT adoption and an innovation
environment. The seven countries include:
Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Israel,
Singapore, Netherlands, and United States.
The data reveal some striking patterns:
top ranks in business usage of digital
technologies. More particularly, this means
these countries perform especially well on
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INTELLIGENTCIO
the combination of technology absorption
by firms, innovation capacity, patenting,
and business-to-business and business-to-
consumer Internet use as well as ICT
staff training.
In addition to having very high levels
of business ICT use, the top seven rank
highly in terms of business and innovation
environment as well as in individual
technology usage. To the extent that
digitisation allows for faster processes,
speed in bringing new innovations
to market is the most crucial factor in
becoming a top firm in the digital age.
Because digital technologies are driving
winner-takes-all dynamics for an increasing
number of industries, getting there first
matters. A crucial ingredient for innovation
will continue to be talent competitiveness.
A widening and worrying gap is also
emerging between growth in individual
ICT usage and public-sector engagement
in the digital economy, as government
usage is increasingly falling short of
expectations. Governments can do
more to invest in digital solutions to
drive social impact. Furthermore, an
expectations gap has opened up with
respect to public-sector performance in
using and promoting digital technologies.
The upward trend in government
usage observed up to 2013 is slowly
being reversed in all regions of the
world. Governments are seen to be
falling behind in terms of using digital
technologies efficiently for social impact.
Yet it does not have to be the government
alone that is driving social outcomes. ICT
can be used in many innovative ways
to achieve social impact—in facilitating
access to basic services. Even in cases
where the government remains firmly
in charge of the system, access to the
system can be facilitated by digital
technologies and private initiative.
Workers in the digital economy
Digital technologies are unleashing new
economic and social dynamics that
will need to be managed if the digital
Networked Readiness Index represents a tool in assessing country preparedness to reap the benefits of
emerging technologies and capitalise on opportunities presented by digital transformation.
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