Vietnam on the Global IT Map: Brighter Picture than in 2006

Ho Chi Minh City Computer Science Association (HCA) has announced the report on the Vietnam ICT Outlook 2007. The report showed the position of Vietnam on the global ICT map is brighter than in 2006, with many higher ratings. Specifically, four out of seven indexes are higher while three are lower.

 

The World Bank Institute (WBI) puts forth two indexes: Knowledge Index (KI) and Knowledge Economy Index (KEI). The KI is built on three elements: innovation, education and ICT, core elements of knowledge. The KEI adds investment incentives factor to the KI in order to “evaluate elements that affect the environment using knowledge for development.” Among 132 nations rated in April 2007, Vietnam ranked 99^th out of 132 in terms of KEI and 95^th out of 132 in terms of KI, both up 14 places compared with last year’s ratings. The KI scores of Vietnam are 2.82 and KEI scores are 2.69, which belong to the second-last group.

 

This index was studied and announced by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in February 2007. This is a yardstick to measure the development of the information society of individual nations, replacing the old Information Society Index introduced by IDC and Word Times. The ICT Opportunity Index (ICT-OI) divided 183 countries into four groups (high, upper, medium and low). Vietnam scored 76.66, ranking 111^th out of 183 countries, near the bottom of the medium group, up 5 positions and 11 scores compared with last year.

 

This index is calculated from information density - infodensity- (networks and skills) and information use - infouse - (computer density, number of internet users, households with TV, number of broadband subscribers and international outgoing telecom traffic).

 

This index was announced by ITU in May 2007 and built on ICT development criteria. Vietnam ranked 126^th out of 181 rated countries, with 0.29 scores, lower than the par of 0.40 scores. The ranking is three positions lower than last year although the scoring is 0.01 scores higher. ITU uses colors to describe this index. The darkest (highest) places were North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia.

 

According to the definition of the World Economic Forum (WEF), NRI is “the degree of readiness of a country or a community to participate in or benefit from ICT development.” This index is announced by WEF in the annual Global Information Technology Report and is built on three components: the environment for ICT offered by a given country or community, the readiness of the community’s key stakeholders (individuals, businesses, and governments) to use ICT, and the usage of ICT amongst these stakeholders. The NRI of Vietnam in 2006-2007 is 82^nd of 122 countries, down 7 positions compared with 2006 (75/115). The reason for the drop of Vietnam is blamed for the low scores in supplementary criteria.

 

This is an annual index announced by the Economist Intelligence Unit (under UK magazine The Economist) in collaboration with the IBM Institute for Business Value. This year, the criteria were changed to match the technology development trend in addition to non-technology factors that are considered having core roles in ICT application deployment.

 

The 2007 e-readiness ranking announced in April 2007 showed Vietnam at 65^th out of 69 rated countries, up one position, with 3.73 scores versus 3.12 scores in 2006. The position of Vietnam was the 56/60 in 2002 and 2003, 60/65 in 2004, 61/65 in 2005 and 66/68 in 2006. Regarding the criteria of government policy and vision, Vietnam ranked 58^th out of 69.

 

In May 2007, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and IDC announced the Piracy Study Report 2007 on global software piracy in 2006. The BSA report showed that software piracy of Vietnam in 2006 was 88 per cent, down 2 per cent while the average Asian piracy rate was up 1 per cent. After two years, the piracy rate declined 4 per cent. This was the first time Vietnam moved away from bottom place. Vietnam was above Zimbabwe, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Armenia, However, the better position was a result of the addition of rated countries. Vietnam’s position was 98^th versus 97^th place in 2006.