OECD publishes IT report

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has published its latest report 'The IT Outlook 2000' examining trends in IT sectors around the world.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has examined the main trends in the IT sectors in OECD economies in the latest of a series of reports 'The Information Technology Outlook 2000' on this subject.

IT Outlook 2000 measures the growing importance of IT and covers a wide range of additional topics including the "readiness" of countries to adopt electronic commerce, the use of electronic payment systems, the development of the software industry in India and the growth of "ubiquitous" computing technologies such as Global Navigation Satellite Systems, agent technologies, and flat panel displays.

The report presents 139 figures and 48 tables that quantify the important role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in OECD countries. For the first time, it provides a set of statistical profiles, based on official data, on the development of the Information Economy for 12 countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, UK, and US.

Highlights of the report include:

*OECD countries spend on average almost seven per cent of GDP on ICT;

*In 1998, ICT industries accounted for almost two-thirds of all venture capital investments in the US;

*Between 1994 and 1998, venture capital investments in ICT in Europe increased seven-fold;

*By the end of 1999, more than 200 million persons world-wide were using the Internet;

*ICT industries accounted for almost one-fifth of real GDP growth in Canada in 1997, and almost one-third in the US in 1998;

*In 1998, more than half of all workers in France used IT in their workplace.

*Ireland is now the leading exporter of software products ahead of the US (almost 3.3 billion US$ in 1998);

*Over the last five to six years, the Indian software industry has been growing at 50 per cent each year.

The OECD is a 'global think-tank' with 29 member countries, providing Governments with a setting to discuss and develop economic and social policies.