An overview of e-government as a tool for global competitiveness revealed that UAE, Tunisia and Qatar were the most advanced in the Arab countries while Denmark, Estonia and Singapore are the top ‘e-government champions’ in the world. The data, based on the World Economic Forum/INSEAD Global Information Technology Report 2007-2008, measures regulatory environment, government readiness and government usage as key indicators of a country’s ‘network readiness’ (Network Readiness Index).
The seminar, which took place at the INSEAD Centre of Executive Education and Research in Abu Dhabi, is part of a seminar series organised by the INSEAD Centre with the support of Injazat Data Systems. ‘Technology initiatives are essential components of government efforts to streamline operations and modernise public services, ‘said Dr. Yousif Asfour, Injazat Institute Director. ‘As the region’s premier providers of strategic ICT implementations, we work with INSEAD to make this event a starting point for the development of an informal community of thought leaders in the field.’.
Professor Soumitra Dutta, INSEAD Dean of External Relations, Professor of Technology and Business, and co-author of the World Economic Forum/INSEAD Global Information Technology Report 2007-2008, showed the UAE ranking 29th out of a total of 127 countries in network readiness. This was a result of particularly strong government readiness marks (10th) and usage (17th). The e-government initiatives of the UAE and its overall investment in the ICT sector have been recognised as the drivers for the country’s leading position amongst its Middle Eastern peer economies.
Dr. Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director of e-lab@INSEAD, highlighted the evolving role of e-government throughout the world, with a changing focus from cost reduction to better government and from rationalisation to growth facilitation. He also explained that there was no one-size-fits-all formula. To date, some governments have sought to promote e-government by vacating space for market forces, while others have taken the opposite approach by leading as well as implementing all aspects of e-government. But the true success stories involve governments like Singapore that have done both, i.e. engaged the private sector, yet without giving up their own role as facilitator.
Although there remains a number of challenges for e-government development, particularly on e-skills, Dr. Lanvin concluded that the high growth ambitions set by the governments in the Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as the important role they are playing in driving innovation and growth, present unique advantages in promoting e-government and increasing the region’s network readiness.
