Africa’s tech hubs and economic powerhouses have been placed in the bottom half of a table listing countries readiness to adopt new technology compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The top performing African countries in the 2013 Networked Readiness Index, compiled by the WEF for its Global Information Technology Report, are South Africa (70), Egypt (80) and Morocco (89).
Kenya (92) and Nigeria (113) find themselves below Rwanda (88). Ghana (95), Botswana (96) and Liberia (97) are the only other African countries to find themselves in the top 100.
Giving a short analysis, the report said: “In sub-Saharan Africa, costly access to technology, a low skills base and unfavourable business conditions are among the chief obstacles.”
The report ranks 144 economies “based on their capacity to exploit the opportunities offered by the digital age”.
Factors which influenced the index include regulatory, business and innovation environments as well as the degree of preparedness and current usage of ICT.
The report did however pick Rwanda out for special praise.
It said the country was aiming to “fundamentally transform its agrarian economy” by 2020, using ICT, and highlighted the use of the farmers’ mobile service E-Soko.
It added: “Investments in education, partnerships with foreign universities and the laying of fibre-optic cables have created a conducive environment.”
China is ranked as low as 58 while South Africa’s other fellow BRICs countries ranked low – Russia (55), Brazil (60) and India (68).
The top of the index was dominated by northern Europe and the Americas. Finland was placed at number one.
