Taiwan ranks No. 12 on EIU’s digital economy rankings 2010 ahead of Japan and Korea.

Taiwan’s development in information and communications technology (ICT) continues to shine in the world arena.  According to the Digital economy rankings 2010 announced by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on 29 June 2010, Taiwan moved up from No. 16 last year to No. 12 this year on the chart.  The EIU Digital economy rankings is one of the world’s most highly regarded social and economic competitiveness indicators.  Taiwan’s strong ICT development is highlighted among the key developments in EIU’s relevant press release.  The EIU remarks Taiwan, Korea (from No. 19 last year to No. 13) and Japan (from No. 22 to No. 16) as the top three countries with the most notable rise in their scores and rankings in 2009-2010.

EIU points in this year’s study that Taiwan’s strong advance in ranking is partly attributable to its broadband and mobile quality, supportive legal environment, government ICT policy, and improved social environment and these factors combined benchmark Taiwan a good model where active and growing use of digital services creates valuable economic and social benefits.  EIU comments that high degree of connectivity is common in Asian countries where the stronger digital economies such as Taiwan and Korea outperform top-ranked European countries and North American countries in terms of broadband quality.

Among the stronger digital economies in Asia, H.K. takes the lead followed by Singapore with Taiwan being the second runner up followed by Korea.  China is ranked No. 55 among the 70 countries covered in the ranking. 

The Digital economy indicators, formerly known as the e-readiness ranking studies the telecommunications networks and e-readiness of various economies each year.  Telecommunication networks and convenient connectivity to individuals as well as businesses lead to active digital economies where ICT optimizes the globalized social and economic development is best defined.

EIU commented that Europe and the America have been home to top-ranked digital economies.  However, only a few of them retain their position on the Digital economy rankings.  Even Sweden and Denmark which are considered the world’s most advanced digital economies suffered a decline in their scores for the past year.  Asian countries, on the other hand, continue to move up on the chart.　(2010.06)
/EMA