The UAE has retained its ranking as the most high-tech country in the Middle East and North Africa, according to a report by business school INSEAD and the World Economic Forum.
High mobile phone use, the availability of the latest technologies and government endorsement of the IT sector saw the UAE rank 24th worldwide in terms of adoption of information and communication technology (ICT).
"The Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011" is the tenth annual report produced in a collaboration between INSEAD and The World Economic Forum.
While the UAE had slipped one place globally from last year, it retains the number-one spot among the Mena countries, according to the report's Networked Readiness Index, which ranks 138 economies worldwide by examining the correlation between ICT readiness and economic growth.
The NRI measures economies on the use of ICT among individuals, businesses and governments, and the corresponding regulatory and infrastructure environment.
Other Mena countries are rising in the NRI ranking, notably Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Sweden and Singapore retained their positions at the top of the list, while China rose five places to rank as the world's sixth most ICT-ready country.
bflanagan@thenational.ae
