Taiwan moved up several spots in an annual global index of "networked readiness," ranking seventh among 115 economies, according to a report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Tuesday.
According to the Global Information Technology Report 2005-2006 Networked Readiness Index (NRI) rankings, Taiwan has moved up eight notches from last year's 15th place, entering the top 10 for the first time.
The NRI measures the degree of preparedness of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from information and communication technology developments.
Augusto Lopez-Claros, director of the Global Competitiveness Network at the WEF and co-editor of the report, said Taiwan was a leader in the adoption and widespread use of information and communication technologies and in stimulating innovation.
Among the technologically advanced economies in the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan outperformed Japan and Hong Kong in terms of NRI, ranking second behind Singapore.
In terms of NRI rankings, the top 10 countries are the US, Singapore, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Canada, Taiwan, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
The NRI examines an economy's information and communication technology conditions from three aspects: the general macroeconomic, regulatory and infrastructure environment; the readiness of the three key stakeholders -- individuals, businesses and governments -- to use and benefit from the technology; and their actual use of the latest information and communication technologies.
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