MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Latam: Chile Leads In Technology

For the second year in a row, Chile leads in information and communication technology development in Latin America, according to the most recent report from the World Economic Forum.

The report, which ranked the technological development of 134 economies worldwide, said that in order to overcome the economic crisis, it is essential that countries be technologically innovative.

The report showed that only three Latin American and Caribbean economies were in the top 50 positions: Chile, Barbados, and Puerto Rico. Chile is now in 39th place, followed

by Brazil – which maintained its 59th position, and Colombia, which jumped by five positions to reach 64th place.

Chile dropped by five positions compared to 2008 and was beat for the first time by the Caribbean country Barbados, which jumped from the 38th spot in 2008 to 36th this year.

Denmark and Sweden led the global ranking. The U.S. followed, up one position from last year in spite of the economic crisis’s affects on the nation. Singapore, Switzerland and other Nordic countries together with the Netherlands and Canada completed

the study’s top 10 list.

The report remains the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact information and communication technologies have on the development of nations. Santiago Times

See full report: The Global Information Technology Report 2008–2009