Measuring network readiness

The last decade has seen information and communication technologies (ICT) dramatically transforming the world, enabling innovation and productivity increases, connecting people and communities, and improving standards of living and opportunities across the globe.

While changing the way individuals live, interact, and work, ICT has also proven to be a key precondition for enhanced competitiveness and economic and societal modernization, as well as an important instrument for bridging economic and social divides and reducing poverty.

The GITR series has been published by the World Economic Forum in partnership with INSEAD since 2001, accompanying and monitoring ICT advances for more than a decade as well as raising awareness of the importance of ICT diffusion and usage for long-term competitiveness and societal well being.

Through the lens of the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), the driving factors of networked readiness and ICT leveraging have been identified, highlighting the joint responsibility of all social actors, namely individuals, businesses, and governments, in this respect. The series has become over time one of the most respected studies of its kind.

It has been extensively used by policymakers and relevant stakeholders as a unique tool to identify strengths on which to build and weaknesses that need to be addressed in national strategies for enhanced networked readiness.

The results of this year’s report, the eleventh of its kind, will be released on April 4^th, 2012 at 10am EDT (Eastern Daylight Time).

This blog was first published by INSEAD

Pictured: Data cables are seen above the main office floor at the Google campus near Venice Beach, in Los Angeles, California January 13, 2012. The 100,000 square-foot campus was designed by architect Frank Gehry, and includes an entrance through an iconic pair of giant binoculars designed by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Around 500 employees develop video advertising for YouTube, parts of the Google+ social network and the Chrome Web browser at the site. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson