EXTRACT FROM THE PREFACE
of the Global Information Technology Report 2004-2005
by Professor Klaus Schwab
The global economy is being changed in profound ways by the onward march of science and technology.
Technological change has, of course, always been a central engine of economic growth, but what is significant about the past decade is the acceleration in the pace of change and, as more and more countries have made efforts to improve their macroeconomic and policy environments, technology and technological innovation appear to have entered a “golden age”, a time when they are emerging as the key drivers of growth and development.
There are, to be sure, still many basic battles to be won in the developing world, addressing fundamental issues of development, from reducing poverty levels and the incidence of disease to enhancing opportunity and the quality of life for large segments of the world’s population.
But, as economists are prone to point out, what matters most is what happens “at the margin,” and at the margin technologies today—particularly information and communications technologies (ICT)—are increasingly playing the central catalytic role in pushing the development process forward. |  |
1. Singapore
2. Iceland
3. Finland
4. Denmark
5. US
6. Sweden
7. Hong Kong
8. Japan |
9.Switzerland
10.Canada
11.Australia
12.United Kingdom
13.Norway
14.Germany
15.Taiwan
>>Ranking in full |
| |
Report 2004-2005 Downloads
|
|
The US has climbed four places this year to bump Singapore out of the top spot in ICT. What happened over the past 12 months? 
