Where's the global action in the ICT business?

The US remains the largest market, by far, four times that of number two China. Other large markets predictably fall within the large G7 economies.

The BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) have received a lot of publicity and investment over the past decade, and a lot of people have gotten excited recently over the potential of Indonesia, the largest ASEAN nation with a population well in excess of 200 million people.

But our research at the Tau Institute over the past year-plus draws a different picture. We don't look at things on an absolute basis, ie, merely look at the size of something, the percentage of its development, and the percentage of its potential growth.

Instead, we're creating a series of indices that provide a relative, "pound-for-pound" view of 99 countries and their ICT environments. What countries are doing the most with what they have? What countries are the most dynamic, ie, the most likely to change dramatically? What happens when we integrate and specifically weigh several technology, economic, and societal factors?

South Korea on Top
Our latest results show South Korea topping the world. We've also identified global leaders in overall development and development potential.

Regional leaders include Canada, Chile, Estonia, the Netherlands, Jordan, Morocco, Vietnam, New Zealand, and Ghana.

Our statistics are moderately complex, and placed on a logarithmic curve to get a clear view. We're happy to enter discussions with anyone who's interested in them.

We don't account for population, so small, well-performing Estonia, as an example, will not be as attractive to many people as larger, successful Finland, or very large, lagging Russia. Communist Vietnam may not be as attractive as Communist China, even though it performs somewhat better.

Big regional laggards such as Brazil, India, Indonesia, and South Africa may still be more appealing than countries that do much better in our research, such as Chile, Thailand, the Philippines, and Ghana.

Case-by-Case
But we forge on. As I wrote yesterday, our research is intended simply to start conversations rather than finish tem. The cases of Kenya and Tanzania provide just one example. They're neighbors, with similar populations (Tanzania's slightly larger) and incomes (Tanzania's slightly poorer).

Kenya has wider access to the Internet, but has done no better in providing broadband to its citizens. Its income disparity is higher, and the perception of corruption there is higher than in Tanzania. Our research shows Tanzania to rank slightly higher overall, and in terms of its potential.

Our result matches up with conversations we've had with people doing business in the region, who've found that Tanzania is a better place to find entrepreneurs, even as both countries present major challenges to development.

With 91 countries now in the mix, there are thousands of permutations and views into this data. We're working on creating a series of reports, and welcome any inquiries about reports you'd like to see.

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