Assessing Competitiveness In Moldova's Economy - Economic Growth

Development Alternatives, Inc. Moldova Competitiveness Assessment: The ICT Cluster
Figure 13: Technological competitiveness for selected countries
Source: National Science Foundation (U.S.)
Market Trends and Prospects
A number of factors in the global ICT marketplace have conspired to slow the growth of
spending in the last two years, including economic recession, stock market decline,
international terrorism, lack of capital investment and project deferrals, and an oversupply of
telecommunications capacity.
Despite the economic slowdown, the future for global ICT remains promising. Many areas of
the market will still continue expansion, including the continuing development of the Internet
and related technologies, intellectual property protection, privatization of infrastructure,
continued adoption of e-business, harmonization of international laws on taxation, security,
and the drive of developing countries to achieve the productivity through information
technology. 18
Some interesting trends from the World Information Technology and Services Association
(WITSA) include:
The top 10 information economies account for 80 percent of the total global ICT market.
As a consumer market, China’s B2B spending has increased 60-fold, and the country also
boasts the annual growth of personal computers in schools.
Countries in Eastern Europe are experiencing significant increases in ICT spending.
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Digital Planet 2002:The Global Information Economy, World Information Technology and Services
Association.
July 2004 • DRAFT Page 6