E-readiness: the Netherlands move up to the 7th position and Belgium to the 20th

Every year, the Economist Intelligence Unit publishes, in collaboration with the IBM Institute for Business Value, a ranking based on six categories of e-readiness: connectivity and technology infrastructure, business environment, social and cultural environment, legal environment, government policy and vision and consumer and business adoption. A country’s e-readiness is a measure for the e-business environment, as well as for a collection of factors that indicate the extent to which the market is open to Internet-based opportunities and for the way in which individuals and businesses use digital goods and services.

The recently published ranking for 2008 reveals that some European countries have experienced a reduction in scores: Denmark (which has been number one for years) dropped to number 4, while Sweden dropped from 2 to 3 and Switzerland dropped from 5 to 11. The Netherlands moved up from 8 to 7 and Belgium remained on 20.

The ranking (ranking 2007)
1. United States (2)
2. Hong Kong (4)
3. Sweden (2)
4. Australia (9)
5. Denmark (1)
6. Singapore (6)
7. The Netherlands (8)
8. United Kingdom (7)
9. Switzerland (5)
10. Austria (10)

The average e-readiness score also rose: from 6.24 in 2007 to 6.39 on a scale from 1 to 10. By way of comparison: the Netherlands reached a score of 8.74 (coming from 8.50 in 2007) and Belgium’s score also increased from 7.90 in 2007 to 8.04 in 2008.