Ranking - JF Bélisle

The 10 Most Hi-Tech Cities in the World

June 21, 2012 by Jean-Francois Belisle

When asked the question “which are the top 10 hi-tech cities in the world?”, even the most “tech savvy” candidates tend to have a hard time comparing and/or imagining what is happening on the other side of the globe. In this way, the question is worth asking, and frankly, is far from easy to answer. When searching on the web, most of rankings found in Shakespeare’s language, such as the Popsci or the Wired rankings, tend to focus exclusively on American cities. Personally, the ranking I found the most interesting was one published on the website of The Age, a mainstream newspaper from Melbourne, Australia. Based on six criteria (1. Broadband speed, cost and availability; 2. Wireless internet access; 3. Technology adoption; 4. Government support for technology; 5. Education and technology culture; 6. Future potential), here is their conclusion:

1. Seoul, South Korea;
2. Singapore, Singapore;
3. Tokyo, Japan;
4. Hong Kong, China;
5. Stockholm, Sweden;
6. San Francisco (and Silicon Valley), USA;
7. Tallinn, Estonia;
8. New York, USA;
9. Beijing, China;
10. New Songdo City, South Korea.

The presence of four cities (Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Songdo City) from the Four Asian Tigers is not surprising. However, the presence of cities like Stockholm (Sweden), Tallinn (Estonia) and New Songdo City (South Korea) is certainly something that yields the most expressions such as: “oh”, “ah”, “what’s that”, “are you kiddin’?”, “really?”.

The presence of Stockholm makes sense when looking at rankings that classify the city as the one with the fastest broadband speed in the OECD countries. Moreover, Stockholm is acting as a pioneer in the use of green technologies such as RFID technologies, and paired with the high number of engineers due in part to the presence of Ericsson, those could be factors that contribute in making this city’s ranking first among cities outside Asia.

The city of Tallinn, mostly unknown to North Americans, except for those who have learned the world’s capitals after the fall of the USSR, is known as the Silicon Valley of the Baltic Sea. The city is also known as being the first to organize an election vote on the internet using smartcards, as well as for its free wireless internet facilities across the city. Tallinn is also recognized for the well-known start-up Skype.

Finally, New Songdo City, situated 60 kilometers East from Seoul, is certainly the most fascinating city in this ranking. The city was built from scratch by Gale International, a real estate development and investment firm, and is considered by technology experts as the ultimate digital city of the future. Even if the city is still upon completion, it is already considered in the top 10 of the most hi-tech cities in the world.

New Songdo City - A New Worldwide High-Tech City Built from Scratch

I can briefly conclude this post by noting that it is nothing new for North America to be limping way behind Asian countries in terms of hi-tech development, and this ranking is only a glimpse of what’s coming next in technology development….

Jean-Francois Belisle

Worldwide Internet Penetration Rate Part 3

June 5, 2017January 3, 2011 by Jean-Francois Belisle

2011 is officially started and I am back from my Holidays vacations as fresh as the Social Network movie on Rotten Tomatoes (97% of freshness while this post was published). Similarly to last year, I have decided to start the year with an update on the world Top 30 countries with the highest Internet penetration rate for nations with more than a million individuals. Since I like numbers and political geography, here is the new Top 30 using data from The Internet World Stats database compared to the two previous ones of respectively April 2009 (see Canada in the Worldwide Top 3 for Internet Penetration Rate) and January 2010 (see Worlwide Top 30 for Internet Penetration Rate in 2010).

	Jan. 2011	Jan. 2010	April 2009	Jan. 2011	Jan. 2010	April 2009
Countries	Position	Position	Position	Rate	Rate	Rate
Norway	1	1	2	94.8%	90.9%	87.7%
Sweden	2	2	6	92.5%	89.2%	77.4%
Netherlands	3	3	1	88.6%	85.6%	90.1%
Denmark	4	4	14	86.1%	84.2%	68.6%
New Zealand	5	7	4	85.4%	79.7%	80.5%
Finland	6	5	15	85.3%	83.5%	68.6%
United Kingdom	7	9	16	82.5%	76.4%	68.6%
South Korea	8	8	11	81.1%	77.3%	70.7%
Australia	9	6	5	80.1%	80.1%	79.4%
Germany	10	23	19	79.1%	65.9%	63.8%
Japan	11	10	7	78.2%	75.5%	73.8%
Belgium	12	18	–	77.8%	70.0%	–
Singapore	13	15	25	77.8%	72.4%	58.6%
Canada	14	12	3	77.7%	74.9%	84.3%
United States	15	13	10	77.3%	74.1%	72.3%
United Arab Emirates	16	29	–	75.9%	60.9%	–
Switzerland	17	11	13	75.3%	75.5%	69.0%
Estonia	18	21	23	75.1%	68.3%	58.7%
Austria	19	16	27	74.8%	72.3%	56.7%
Slovakia	20	26	–	74.3%	65.3%	–
Israel	21	14	9	71.6%	72.8%	72.8%
Taiwan	22	24	17	70.1%	65.9%	67.2%
France	23	19	26	68.9%	69.3%	58.1%
Hong Kong	24	20	12	68.8%	69.2%	69.5%
Latvia	25	28	–	67.8%	61.4%	–
Ireland	26	22	–	65.8%	67.3%	–
Czech Republic	27	–	–	65.5%	–	–
Malaysia	29	25	24	64.6%	65.7%	59.0%
Slovenia	29	27	18	64.8%	64.8%	64.8%
Spain	30	17	20	62.6%	71.8%	63.3%
Hungary	–	30	–	61.8%	59.3%	–

What has changed?

As stated in my previous post last year, changes in the ranking are mainly due to two factors: (1) changes in the sources used by The Internet Worlwide Stats Database, and (2) natural growth. Since last year, not that much has changed, 9 of the countries in the Top 10 are still present and 29 of the Top 30 are still dominating this ranking. The only newcomer is Czech Republic in position 27. Scandinavia and Oceania are still leaders in terms of Internet Penetration rate while Germany and United Arab Emirates are the winners of this ranking, each gaining a whopping 13 positions. This change for Germany should be related to a change in the source which was underestimating the penetration rate. Furthermore, despite all the financial concerns raised during last recession related to the viability of all luxury hotels, villas and islands in Abu Dhabi, I would tend to think that most of the increase for the United Arab Emirates is linked to technological growth rather than a change in sources.

Furthermore, I would also add some doubts about the strange downward variation for Spain that should certainly be related to a change in source too.

Logic and statistical interpretation 101

When looking at this ranking, it is important to understand that all countries have different ways of measuring the Internet Penetration Rate, but globally unless there are bombing destroying a country similarly to Japan in World War II, there should not be more than a 2% downward variation, a variation that could be related to statistical noise. Even for growth, more than 10% for a year is generally associated to a change in the source used, especially for European countries, since absolute and relative growth is mainly seen for BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries. Thus, even though these countries have low Internet Penetration Rates, they account for nearly one-third (32.36%) of the world Internet users population, China alone accounting for more than one-fifth (21.35%). Here is below a table representing the Internet Penetration Rate of these four countries but also the percentage of users in comparison to the world total.

	Jan. 2011	Jan. 2011
Countries	Rate	% World
Brazil	37.8%	3.86%
Russia	42.8%	3.03%
India	6.9%	4.12%
China	31.6%	21.35%

BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is not that much new concerning the Worldwide Top 30 countries for Internet Penetration Rate. However, what will be more and more interesting to look at in the future is the growth of the BRIC countries. Furthermore, I know it’s only the beginning of the year, but if you’re looking for a techno-trendy country or city to visit, this ranking is a good complement to my post entitled The 10 Most Hi-Tech Cities in the World, but also to the lucky 13 cities in the world described in my post entitled The art of Being Perceived as an Innovative Mind in Marketing.

Happy new year to everyone!

Jean-Francois

Worldwide Top 30 for Internet Penetration Rate in 2010

June 6, 2017January 13, 2010 by Jean-Francois Belisle

My second post on this blog entitled Canada in the Worldwide Top 3 for Internet Penetration Rate, which is one of the most viewed, was about a worldwide ranking based on one of the most important macroeconomic indicators of innovation: “the Internet penetration rate”. This post did not generated lots of comments at the time, but many people find it useful to cite for the first steps of a presentation. However, with time, new data have become available and the shape of the ranking has changed. Using data from The Internet World Stats database, this post is an update of the Top 30 countries with the highest Internet penetration rate for nations with more than a million individuals, so here is the new Top 30 compared to the previous one of April 2009:

	Jan. 2010	Jan. 2010	April 2009	April 2009
Countries	Position	Rate	Position	Rate
Norway	1	90.9%	2	87.7%
Sweden	2	89.2%	6	77.4%
Netherlands	3	85.6%	1	90.1%
Denmark	4	84.2%	14	68.6%
Finland	5	83.5%	15	68.6%
Australia	6	80.1%	5	79.4%
New Zealand	7	79.7%	4	80.5%
South Korea	8	77.3%	11	70.7%
United Kingdom	9	76.4%	16	68.6%
Japan	10	75.5%	7	73.8%
Switzerland	11	75.5%	13	69.0%
Canada	12	74.9%	3	84.3%
United States	13	74.1%	10	72.3%
Israel	14	72.8%	9	72.8%
Singapore	15	72.4%	25	58.6%
Austria	16	72.3%	27	56.7%
Spain	17	71.8%	20	63.3%
Belgium	18	70.0%	–	–
France	19	69.3%	26	58.1%
Hong Kong	20	69.2%	12	69.5%
Estonia	21	68.3%	23	58.7%
Ireland	22	67.3%	–	–
Germany	23	65.9%	19	63.8%
Taiwan	24	65.9%	17	67.2%
Malaysia	25	65.7%	24	59.0%
Slovakia	26	65.3%	–	–
Slovenia	27	64.8%	18	64.8%
Latvia	28	61.4%	–	–
United Arab Emirates	29	60.9%	–	–
Hungary	30	59.3%	–	–
Italy	–	51.7%	22	59.7%
Portugal	–	41.8%	8	72.9%
Bulgaria	–	36.7%	28	55.1%
Romania	–	33.4%	29	53.9%
Belarus	–	32.2%	21	61.9%
Jamaica	–	ND	30	53.5%

The changes in the ranking are mainly due to two factors: (1) changes in the sources used by The Internet Worlwide Stats Database, and (2) natural growth. The new ranking includes all members of Scandinavia in the new top 5: Norway (ranked 1st, 90.9%), Sweden (ranked 2nd, 89.2%), Denmark (ranked 3rd, 84.2%) and Finland (ranked 5th, 83.5%). In terms of changes, 6 of the previous nations in the Top 10 are still in the Top10 (Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand & Japan).

Worldwide map that fits well with this article

Conclusion

In conclusion, Scandinavia and Oceania are still leaders in term of Internet Penetration rate while nations such as the Four Asian Tigers (South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong & Taiwan) should improve their position in the next few years even though the new ranking did not revealed strong improvements. However, even though this macroeconomic indicator is quite reliable to reflect a nation’s innovation, it is important to note that it tends to favor nations where the population is highly concentrated in urban areas. In this way, this ranking is a good complement to my post entitled The 10 Most Hi-Tech Cities in the World.

Happy new year to everyone and feel free to express what you think of this new ranking?

Jean-Francois Belisle

P.S.: The following blog post entitled Worlwide Internet Penetration Rate Part 3 is an update of both this post and this ranking.

Canada in the Worldwide Top 3 for Internet Penetration Rate

June 6, 2017April 24, 2009 by Jean-Francois Belisle

As a follow-up to my last post entitled The 10 Most Hi-Tech Cities in the World, I was thinking about another simple and easy-to-understand ranking that could impress, destabilize, or even wake up, for a single minute, a curious audience in a business happy-hour cocktail. While preparing myself for a Macromarketing Conference, I ended up discovering interesting findings concerning one of the most important macroeconomic indicators of innovation: “the Internet penetration rate”. Personally, my Top 3 ranking would certainly have included countries such as South Korea, Japan or Singapore. However, strangely, while looking at The Internet World Stats database I ended up being exposed to results that surprised me. I decided to compile my own Top 30 countries with the highest Internet penetration rate for nations with more than a million individuals:

1. Netherlands – 90.1%;
2. Norway – 87.7%;
3. Canada – 84.3%;
4. New Zealand – 80.5%;
5. Australia – 79.4%;
6. Sweden – 77.4%;
7. Japan – 73.8%;
8. Portugal – 72.9%;
9. Israel – 72.8%;
10. United States – 72.3%;
11. South Korea – 70.7%;
12. Hong Kong – 69.5%;
13. Switzerland – 69.0%;
14. Denmark – 68.6%;
15. Finland – 68.6%;
16. United Kingdom – 68.6%;
17. Taiwan – 67.2%;
18. Slovenia – 64.8%;
19. Germany – 63.8%;
20. Spain – 63.3%;
21. Belarus – 61.9%;
22. Italy – 59.7%;
23. Estonia – 59.7%;
24. Malaysia – 59.0%;
25. Singapore – 58.6%;
26. France – 58.1%;
27. Austria – 56.7%;
28. Bulgaria – 55.1%;
29. Romania – 53.9%;
30. Jamaica – 53.5%.

The penetration rates for the Top 5 countries were not that surprising: Netherlands (90.1%), Norway (87.7%), Canada (84.3%), New Zealand (80.5%), and Australia (79.4%). However, what was most surprising is the low Internet penetration rate for what I thought would be the Top 3, that is to say, Japan (ranked 7th, 73.8%), South Korea (ranked 11h, 70.7%), and Singapore (ranked 25h, 58.6%; for some reasons explaining the low penetration rate of Singapore, I would refer to Chandler Nguyen’s blog). Moreover, the extent of rural regions, the importance of traditions and the high number of individuals older than 65 years old are amongst the reasons that could explain low results for the Old Europe countries such as Germany (ranked 19th, 63.8%), Italy (ranked 22nd, 59,7%) and France (ranked 26th, 58.1%). A map summary from The Internet World Stats database concerning the Internet penetration rate by country for 2007, is proposed in the figure below.

Worldwide Internet Penetration Rate by Country in 2007

In conclusion, after reading this post, I hope you’ll network a little more during your next business happy-hour cocktail, but be careful and stay alert to be sure that your new knowledge doesn’t make you a strong candidate for closing the bar…

Jean-Francois Belisle

P.S.: The following blog post entitled Top 30 for Internet Penetration Rate in 2010 is an update of both this post and this ranking.