EconomyTaiwan climbs to 13th in World Bank index Taiwan’s world-class smartphones and resilient ICT sector saw the island improve in the latest World Bank Knowledge Economy Index. (CNA)
Taiwan moved up three spots to 13th out of 146 countries and territories worldwide in the latest Knowledge Economy Index released by the World Bank. With a combined score of 8.77 out of 10, Taiwan topped all Asian economies. Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea ranked 18th, 22nd, 23rd and 29th, respectively. On the global front, Sweden continued to be the world leader, followed by Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway in that order. Among the four factors comprising the overall score, Taiwan finished eighth in Education and ninth in both Innovation and Information and Communications Technology. A breakdown of the ratings reveals Taiwan finished No. 1 in the subcategories of human development, intensity of local competition, U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office application approvals, achievements in math for eighth-grade students and main telephone lines per 1,000 people. “The results are a vote of confidence in government efforts to upgrade Taiwan’s ICT infrastructure and human capital,” officials from the Council for Economic Planning and Development said June 6. “These positive developments will help fast-track the country’s economic transformation.” But Taiwan did not fare as well in Economic Incentive Regime, finishing 35th compared to Hong Kong’s fifth and first for Singapore. “This assessment shows there is still plenty of room for improvement in regulatory easing and removal of investment and trade hurdles, among other issues,” officials said. First held in 1995, the index employs a set of structural and qualitative variables to measure performance in the four knowledge economy factors. The previous survey was conducted in 2000. (JSM) Write to Meg Chang at sfchang@mail.mofa.gov.tw |