Taiwan: Second in IT Competitiveness After U.S.
E080919Z1 Oct. 2008（E107）
On 18 September, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) published the report of “IT industry competitiveness index in 2008”. Taiwan, ranked first in the index category of research and development (R&D) environment has outperformed countries including Japan, South Korea, United Kingdom and Australia in the global IT industry competitiveness index by leaping from the sixth place in 2007 to second-place in 2008; only next to the United States.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) entrusted the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to survey the information technology (IT) industry environments of 66 countries. The study was conducted by EIU by assessing and comparing the information technology industry environments of 66 countries on six major indexes: “overall business environment”, “IT infrastructure”, “human capital”, “legal environment”, “R&D environment” and “support for IT industry development”.
In the 2008 report, Taiwan’s score in the research and development (R&D) environment index was in first place. In particular, it ranked top in the world in quantity of patent applications, generating one patent for every 2,000 persons. Taiwan’s private investment in R&D reaches a high USD512 per hundred persons, second only to Japan with USD707. Jeffery Hardee, BSA vice president and director, Asia Pacific, pointed out that Taiwan’s strong performance in the R&D environment category was a major factor in putting Taiwan ahead of other countries in the overall ranking of IT industry competitiveness. Taiwan only ranked 7th in the world in the human capital index, which was attributed by few students enrolling in the science and engineering courses.
For major indexes, such as “overall business environment”, “legal environment”, “IT infrastructure” and “support for IT industry development”, Taiwan ranks barely satisfactory from 19th place to 28th place. In contrast to US (the number one spot in the index score) holding high scores in all the major index categories; Taiwan’s (among the top five index performers) index scores range variously in these indexes.
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Global IT industry competitiveness index | ||||
| Score (2008) |
Rank (2008) |
Country | Rank (2007) |
Score (2007) |
| 74.6 | 1 | United States | 1 | 77.4 |
| 69.2 | 2 | Taiwan | 6 | 65.8 |
| 67.2 | 3 | United Kingdom | 4 | 67.1 |
| 66.0 | 4 | Sweden | 7 | 65.4 |
| 65.2 | 5 | Denmark | 8 | 64.9 |
| 64.4 | 6 | Canada | 9 | 64.6 |
| 64.1 | 7 | Australia | 5 | 66.5 |
| 64.1 | 8 | South Korea | 3 | 67.2 |
| 63.4 | 9 | Singapore | 11 | 63.1 |
| 62.7 | 10 | Netherlands | 12 | 62.9 |
| Source: Business Software Alliance (BSA) | ||||
| Taiwan global IT industry competitiveness index | ||||
| Score (2008) | Rank (2008) | Score (2007) | Rank (2007) | |
| Overall index score | 69.2 | 2 | 65.8 | 6 |
| Overall business environment | 87.6 | 19 | 88.0 | 11 |
| IT infrastructure | 52.0 | 20 | 51.3 | 18 |
| Human capital | 73.1 | 7 | 73.4 | 7 |
| Legal environment | 70.0 | 27 | 70.0 | 32 |
| R&D environment | 74.3 | 1 | 54.8 | 3 |
| Support for IT industry development | 65.3 | 28 | 75.9 | 19 |
| Source: Business Software Alliance (BSA) | ||||
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