An annual report of international network readiness from a respected think tank has shown that the Republic of Ireland has increased its ability to capitalise on the opportunities offered by information and communications technology (ICT).
The World Economic Forum's (WEF) Networked Readiness Index 2005 now ranks Ireland at number 20 out of 115 nations, up from 22 in 2004, having overtaken France and New Zealand.
The US regained top spot in the index, having dropped to fifth last year. The index is published as part of the WEF's Global Information Technology Report, which looks at the extent that technology is being used by economies to improve development.
Alongside India and Israel, the report highlights the Republic as a country that has benefited from ICT and, in particular, how it has emerged as a centre of software development. Israel is one place ahead of Ireland in the index at 19th position, while India is ranked 40th. A number of reasons are given as to why the US regained top rank from Singapore, most notably the quality of its higher education institutes, high level of co-operation between research bodies and industry, and the ready availability of venture capital.
The Republic was also ranked high in the availability of venture capital (fourth), but it was in the quality of the educational system that it scored highest, achieving third place overall.
Other environmental factors where Ireland broke into the top 10 included the number of procedures required to start a business (ranked sixth) and judicial independence (fifth). Irish individuals were more ready to take advantage of technology than either their business or government counterparts, although government support of research and development through subsidies, where we ranked eighth, was well above our overall ranking.
The WEF found that Ireland was punching above its weight in the prevalence of foreign technology licensing (sixth), availability of online services (eighth) and available internet bandwidth (ninth). This last component suggests that, while there is adequate bandwidth coming into the State, the issue still remains getting this to consumers and businesses - the so-called "last mile".
At first glance, the overall ranking may seem surprising, particularly given that the Republic is categorised as a laggard in the provision and usage of internet technologies. Just last week, the European Commission criticised the Republic for being one of the slowest movers at the publication of its Broadband For All policy document.
Research conducted in advance of that report found that the Republic has the second-lowest coverage of broadband technologies in both urban and rural locations out of 17 states surveyed. According to the EU, broadband is available to 71 per cent of locations nationally and just 32 per cent of rural areas.
"The WEF report indicates we are doing very well relatively speaking but, when we are talking about a knowledge economy, there's plenty more to do, particularly around better infrastructure and government policy to support that," said Damien Mulley, chairman of broadband lobby group Ireland Offline.
He contrasted the situation in Estonia, which has higher broadband uptake and PC penetration largely due to a government decision in the late 1990s that technology could deliver a competitive advantage and a subsequent major investment in infrastructure. Estonia move up two places on the index to 23rd.
Kathryn Raleigh, director of the high-tech representative body ICT Ireland, expressed delight that Ireland was moving in the right direction. She noted that not only had the ranking improved, but that the overall score of 1.15 would have placed us at number 15 in the 2004 index.
"I believe we could be in the top five in the next few years if certain key things happened," Ms Raleigh said. She said these include an increased use of ICT in the classroom, improved PC penetration, and greater provision of online services by public and private organisations.
