The World Economic Forum (WEF) has said that in the post recession economy, information communications technology had become especially important and Nordic and Asian economies are best at ICT.
The WEF said ICT was "a key enabler of a more economically, environmentally and socially sustainable world" and that it has assumed significance "in the aftermath of one of the most serious economic crises in decades".
"Look how rapidly this technology is taking hold in countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Libya. That’s making a big difference in the ability for more democratization, whatever that might mean," said WEF senior director Alan Marcus.
The annual report, which studied 138 countries for 2010, found that Sweden is best positioned to grow from new information technology for the second year in a row.
According to a study by WEF, Sweden and Singapore are the most digitally competitive countries. While the report puts Finland in third place, Switzerland is at fourth. The US remained at fifth, a rank it has been in from 2009.
The report found that over 90% of Sweden’s population use the Internet on a regular basis.
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Marcus said, "Particularly in Scandinavia, you see a lot more access through mobile technologies and that allows even in the rural lands to have high levels of connectivity in place where many other countries are still working hard to get to those users."
Denmark was in seventh spot and Norway in ninth, Iceland which is also a Nordic country is placed at the 16th position in the report.
Among Asian countries, Taiwan and South Korea figured in at sixth and tenth position respectively. Hong Kong is at 12th.
