The Republic has inched ahead of Taiwan and South Korea to become the second most competitive information technology market in the Asia-Pacific region, a new study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) reveals.
The annual report, sponsored by anti-piracy trade group Business Software Alliance (BSA), scores 66 countries around the world on six key yardsticks which EIU uses to ascertain the competitiveness of a nation’s tech sector.
These include a country’s business environment, technology infrastructure, legal framework, as well as its research and development (R&D) landscape.
Singapore scored 68.2 out of a possible 100, placing it just behind regional frontrunner Australia, which garnered a score of 68.7. The tally moves it to second position from fourth last year.
Taiwan and South Korea, which clinched first and third position in 2008, dropped to fourth and fifth place in the latest EIU rankings. On a worldwide basis, Singapore retained its ninth ranking this time around.
According to Manoj Vohra, EIU’s director of research, Singapore was in pole position in five out of the six categories used to measure IT competitiveness. EIU ranked Singapore first in the region in terms of its R&D environment and support for the IT sector, thanks to the strong backing of the local government.
The Republic’s legal environment was deemed to be the second best in Asia behind Australia, a result of its stringent intellectual property protection regime and cybercrime laws, Mr Vohra said.
‘There’s a distinct possibility Singapore could become No 1 (in the next few years),’ he told reporters at a briefing yesterday.
In order to clinch top spot, EIU highlighted one key area for improvement: IT human capital.
Singapore ranked eighth in the region in terms of human capital, a category which encompasses factors such as the number of people in higher education and enrolment numbers for science-related courses.
‘This (human capital) is the place where most work needs to be done,’ Mr Vohra stressed.
Singapore is already disadvantaged by the small size of its IT labour pool compared to countries such as India and China.
To compound the problem, the number of students enrolling in the science discipline – the talent supply pipeline for technology companies – is also lower than many of its Asian counterparts, EIU found.
Singapore should encourage more students to take up science courses and consider introducing ‘labour mobility’ initiatives to tap into the vast pool of skilled IT workers in places such as India, Mr Vohra added.
Source : Business Times – 18 Sep 2009
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