TIRANA, July 12 – Albania made some progress in information technology but continues lagging behind most regional competitors when it comes to generating economic impact from investments in information and communication technologies, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report 2016.
The report published by Switzerland-based World Economic Forum showed Albania ranked 84th among 139 countries in the 2016 Networked Readiness Index measuring the capacity of countries to leverage ICTs for increased competitiveness and well-being. This year’s result marks an improvement by 8 places for Albania which in 2015 ranked 92nd out of 143 economies. However, when it comes to regional competitiveness on ICT Albania leaves behind only Bosnia and Herzegovina among regional EU aspirants.
Neighboring Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia ranked 46th, 51st and 75th respectively in the 2016 report.
Among the four key pillars in the Networked Readiness Index, Albania scored better on the readiness index measuring the extent to which a country has in place the infrastructure and other factors to support the uptake of ICTs, ranking 68th. The report ranked Albania 86th in the usage subindex assessing the level of ICT adoption by a society’s main stakeholders including the government, businesses and individuals. The country ranked 88th out of 139 economies in the environment subindex measuring the extent to which a country’s market conditions and regulatory framework support entrepreneurship, innovation, and ICT development.
Albania’s worst ranking was in the Impact subindex gauging the broad economic and social impacts accruing from ICTs.
“The future of countries, businesses, and individuals will depend more than ever on whether they embrace digital technologies. The way businesses adopt ICTs is key for leveraging them for development, so encouraging businesses to fully embrace the powers of digital technologies should be a priority of governments,” says the World Economic Forum report.
Back in 2014, Albania ranked 95th in the Networked Readiness Index, compared to 83rd in 2013 and 68th in 2012 when it achieved the best-ever ranking.
The Networked Readiness Index, calculated by the World Economic Forum, ranks economies based on their capacity to exploit the opportunities offered by the digital age. This capacity is determined by the quality of the regulatory, business and innovation environments, the degree of preparedness, the actual usage of ICTs, as well as the societal and economic impacts of ICTs.
