BizResearch

Global ICT spending forecasts

The global marketplace for information and communications technology (ICT) will exceed $3.7 trillion this year and will top $4 trillion by 2011, according to Digital Planet 2008, a study released by the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) on the first day of its World Congress for Information Technology.

Slowing economies in developed countries will lead ICT spending into a period of slower growth through 2011. However, strong demand in 2007 will spill over into 2008, resulting in annual growth of 10.3% in both years, down from a peak level of 12.3 percent in 2004. Growth in overall ICT spending is projected to decline to 3.6 percent by 2011. The executive summary (pdf file,11MB) and some of the report tables and country tables are available on the Web.

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: imagine24

RFID: technology, applications and impact on business operations

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an emerging technology that is increasingly being used in business and industry, particularly in logistics and supply chain management (SCM). RFID tools play an important role in supporting logistics and SCM processes because of their ability to identify, categorize and manage the flow of goods and information throughout the supply chain.  In light of the growing importance of RFID technology, the April issue of the International journal of production economics (vol. 112:2) is a special issue devoted to RFID technology, providing an overview of the current state of its applications and the impact of this on business operations.  The nine papers that have been selected are intended to provide a platform for the discussion of strategic frameworks, conceptual and analytical models and case studies on the design, development, and implementation of RFID systems.

The latest issue of the International journal of production economics can be found in the journal collections located in the library basement.

Alternatively, current students, faculty and staff can access this journal from Science direct, which can be found on the A-Z list of library databases via Portal.

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10 emerging technologies - 2008

Every year the editors of Technology review compile a list of 10 emerging technologies set to become important over the next few years. This is work that is ready to emerge from the lab, covering areas such as computer hardware and software, biological imaging and energy.

This year the following are included:

• Cellulolytic enzymes – used in biofuel production
• Reality mining – use of data-mining algorithms to information collected by cell phone sensors
• Connectomics – mapping of all synaptic connections between neurons
• Offline web applications – development of web technologies using resources of a user’s computer
• Graphene transistors – a new form of carbon which could vastly improve computer processors
• Atomic magnetometers – tiny magnetic-field sensors which could revolutionize MRI
• Wireless power – wireless power which can be transmitted without the use of cables
• Nanoradio – single molecules that could be used to improve cell phone communications
• Probablistic chips – computer chips that could extend battery life in mobile devices
• Modeling surprise – surprise modeling which combines data mining and machine learning to enable people to anticipate and cope better with unusual events.

The April issue of Technology review can be found in the journals collection located in the library basement.

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: rpongsaj

Science, technology and innovation in Europe

It is widely recognised that knowledge and innovation are the key to job creation and economic growth. Using a wide set of data tables, graphs and written analysis, this Eurostat publication presents a comprehensive picture of the science, technology and innovation activities in the European Union. It shows the contributions and expenditures on R&D; and defines the characteristics of the high-skilled people participating in these areas. It also describes the innovation activities of enterprises, as well as patenting, which is one of the channels leading to commercialising newly developed technology. Statistics on high-tech industries and knowledge-based services and human resources in science and technology are also included. The publication can be freely downloaded from the Eurostat website

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: Schoschie

Connectivity scorecard

 Professor Leonard Waverman of London Business School has recently released the first Connectivity scorecard report. The Connectivity scorecard is a pioneering global information and communications technology (ICT) index designed to measure the extent to which Governments, businesses and consumers in 25 nations make use of the technologies underpinning the information economy. The countries are divided into two categories - innovation driven economies and resource or efficiency driven economies. The United States comes in at number one for the innovation driven category, closely followed by Sweden and Japan.  Russia and Malaysia do well in the efficiency driven category due to their high literacy rates and usage scores. India and Nigeria are the lowest scores on the emerging segment Scorecard, falling behind on both.

To read the report in full click here

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New guide to researching ICT

Focussing on the ICT sector, this new report covers market research reports, web resources, journals, books, reference materials and career guides.

Available on the Library website under Library guides or in Portal > Library > Help and advice > Research resource guides.

Image courtesy of SantiagoG, Flickr

UK household Internet access

The latest figures for UK household Internet access have just been published by the Office for National Statistics. There are an estimated 13.9 million households (57%) in Great Britain that could access the Internet from home between January and April 2006. This is an increase of 2.9 million households (26%) since 2002, and 0.6 million (5%) over the last year. The number of households with Internet access across the United Kingdom in 2006 was 14.3 million, with the highest percentage of households with access being the South East with 66%. In terms of broadband, 69% of households now have access to a broadband connection.

The latest update to the quarterly Index of Internet Connectivity, a survey which measures the change in the level of all business and household connections to the Internet, has also just been released.

To view these results and other related data visit the Office for National Statistics website