e-Maturity Report Ranks Abu Dhabi Top in Region, Al-Mansoori |
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Abu Dhabi, March 11th, 2010 (WAM) -- In the Abu Dhabi e-Maturity Assessment, which is the most comprehensive ICT assessment on a regional level, Abu Dhabi ranks among the top 35 nations in all indices analyzed.
The three most common global indices as relates to e-Maturity are the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) by the World Economic Forum, the e-Government Readiness Index by the United Nations (UN) and the ICT Development Index (IDI) by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) held the First Abu Dhabi e-Maturity Roundtable at the Emirates Palace Hotel.The findings of the e-Maturity Assessment were shared with participants from all government sectors to improve e-Maturity throughout the Emirate. The conference held under the motto of "Supporting the shared journey towards e-Maturity" was attended by Dr. Ahmed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, Deputy Secretary General of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and numerous Chairmen and Undersecretaries of Abu Dhabi Government entities.Dr. Abdulilah Dewachi, the former Director of ICT at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN ESCWA), Dr. Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director at INSEAD and Professor Mark de Jong, Vice-Chairman of the Independent Post and Telecommunication Authority of the Netherlands, provided valuable insights from international best practice countries and proposed key recommendations. These recommendations shall help Abu Dhabi to climb in the e-Maturity rankings.Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori, the ADSIC Director General said: "meeting today was highly important as it will lead to the adoption of recommendations capable of improving the status of Abu Dhabi to that of the most developed countries." ICT is one of the main factors for socio-economic growth, which was also clearly stressed by the Abu Dhabi 2030 Economic Vision, issued in 2007. IT can be considered as a key enabler to allow us to reach the target set by our Government under the presidency of HH Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Head of the State, Ruler of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and guidance of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and President of the Executive Council. This target is to make Abu Dhabi one of the best five Governments in the world. Information technology has proven its important role also in the face of current international challenges on the financial, economic, social and environmental levels.Al Mansoori added in his opening statement: "Green information technology can not only reduce the carbon footprint of IT, but it can also reduce carbon emissions through advanced technological solutions, such as the smart grid and teleconferencing." Abu Dhabi jumped from 27th place to 17th on the NRI, when comparing the Emirate to the nations that were ranked in the index. The Emirate is the top regional performer, leading by 13 positions over Qatar, by 21 positions over Bahrain, and by 24 positions over Saudi Arabia.Abu Dhabi’s relatively good ranking in the NRI is based in on its impressive 23-place jump on the Readiness component. "Readiness" measures the extent to which a country’s main stakeholders are interested and prepared to use technology in their daily activities.The Emirate has received good rankings on the three supporting pillars "Individual Readiness", "Business Readiness", and "Government Readiness". The improvements can be attributed to factors such as the "Importance of ICT to Government’s Vision of the Future". Despite this, there were a number of highlighted improvement opportunities for Abu Dhabi to reach the top globally. Especially, when it comes to the tertiary enrolment rate Abu Dhabi ranks low. Also, the time required to start a business is relatively long when compared to other countries.Abu Dhabi dropped from 29th to 30th on the UN e-Government Readiness Index. Abu Dhabi dropped on two out of three subcomponents. First, it dropped from 17th to 24th on the Telecommunication Infrastructure index. This sub-index measures main telephone lines, broad band connectivity and internet users per capita among other performance measures. Second, it ranks low on the Human Capital index and dropped from 109th to 110th. This sub-index measures the gross enrolment ratio and the adult literacy rate. However, Abu Dhabi improved on the Web Measurement index, gaining eight places from 40th to 32nd, due to improvement in the content of the Abu Dhabi Government Portal.The first issue of the IDI ranked Abu Dhabi 32nd. The IDI also revealed barriers to the ICT development, which are "International Internet bandwidth per Internet user (bit/s)" (rank 74th) and "Fixed broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants" (rank 45th).Enhancing Abu Dhabi’s overall e-Maturity and increasing its rank on all three indices would involve the application of a set of initiatives. At the top of the list are: enhancing digital literacy, improving penetration of fixed line and mobile broadband, improving Abu Dhabi’s web presence, and raising levels of e-Interactions, both for governmental and private sector services. Additional improvement can be made through attracting and retaining knowledge companies and through improving the effectiveness of ICT utilization across the Emirate."The indicators show that e-Government in Abu Dhabi has undergone significant improvement along the last three years, which can also be related to ADSIC’s success in promoting and enhancing the development of ICT throughout the Emirate," commented Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori."These rankings also indicate a high level of interest and willingness within the Emirate for using technology. We take special pride that the report ranked the promotion of ICT within the government at the second position worldwide. With this in mind, there are still some obstacles to tackle in order to raise the take-up of ICT as a medium between citizens, businesses, and the government. Initiatives such as the Abu Dhabi Government Portal and Jobs Abu Dhabi are destined to increase the level of interaction over the web and raise both the confidence and the reliance of users on robust and efficient government online services."© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2010.
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