By EMMANUEL ELEBEKE

The World Economic Forum has declared that the increasing digital divide between the connected and the under connected nations across the globe is stalling the progress of emerging and developing nations.

This was the position of 2014 Global IT report of the world body released yesterday.

The report, the 13th in the series expressed worry over the development saying that such situation puts the emerging nations at risk of missing out on many positive impacts information and communications technologies, ICT bring, including increased innovation, economic competitiveness and greater social inclusion.

It said addressing new digital divide among the networked and the under networked nations remains key for balancing growth in the global economy, pointing that little progress is being made in bridging the digital divide between technology savvy nations and others.

One of the key findings of the report is that countries cannot only rely on ICT infrastructure development to become competitive. Rather, the benefits of ICT can only be fully derived when a country implements a holistic strategy aimed at creating conditions for skills, innovation and entrepreneurship to flourish alongside modern infrastructure.

Published under the theme, “Rewards and Risks of Big Data”, the report’s Networked Readiness Index, NRI measures the capacity of 148 economies to leverage ICT for growth and well-being. It finds consistency at the top end of the rankings this year, with Finland first, Singapore second and Sweden third.