Abu Dhabi, 24 June 2008 - 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 political and 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.
About Injazat Data Systems LLC:
Established in the 1st Quarter of 2005, Injazat Data Systems is an Information Technology and Business Services company that offers a wide range of managed services. It is focused on providing IT managed services to the oil & gas, utilities, financial services, government, transportation, telecom and healthcare sectors. Injazat is a joint venture of Mubadala Development Company and Electronic Data Systems (EDS).
Injazat aims to become the premier information technology and business process managed services provider in the region. Growth is driven through Mubadala’s knowledge of the Middle East business environment plus the delivery capabilities of EDS – creating a local company with the experience of a global player.
Mubadala Development is a Public Joint Stock company, established and wholly owned by the Government of the Emirate Abu Dhabi. Its mission is to invest in commercially-viable, strategic, industrial and commercial partnerships.
EDS provides a broad portfolio of business and technology solutions to help its clients worldwide improve their business performance. EDS’ core portfolio comprises Information Technology, applications and business process services, as well as Information Technology transformation services. EDS supports the world's leading companies and governments in 60 countries.
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