Korea's IT Competitiveness Declines

Korea's IT competitiveness declined five notches from 2007. According to the Korea International Trade Association on Sunday, Korea ranked eighth among 66 countries, with 64.1 points out of 100, in the 2008 IT industry competitiveness index by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a provider of economic data and analysis. Korea ranked third after the U.S. and Japan in 2007.

This year, the U.S. topped the list for the second year running with 74.6 points, followed by Taiwan (69.2 points), the U.K. (67.2 points), Sweden (66 points), Denmark (65.2 points), Canada (64.4 points), and Australia (64.1 points).

Taiwan rose to second place from sixth last year. Sweden and Canada rose by three notches each.

By contrast, Japan fell from second to 12th place (62.2 points). Germany and France ranked 19th and 20th, respectively. China finished 50th with 27.6 points.

The EIU uses weighted categories such as overall business environment (10 percent), IT infrastructure (20 percent), human capital (20 percent), legal environment (10 percent), R&D environment (25 percent) and support for IT industry development (15 percent).

KITA said, "Korea has been well-known as an IT powerhouse, but it's noteworthy that its IT competitiveness had declined significantly." It urged the government to give a variety of support to the industry, and the industry to make its own efforts to enhance its competitiveness.