A scarcity of AI talent, however, threatens this growth, says the new research.
The index found that industries are embedding AI in key enabling technologies to turn connectivity into intelligent connectivity, thus unleashing innovation to propel a new wave of economic growth.
Today, the digital economy is driven by the consumer-driven internet. Increasingly, industries are leveraging intelligent connectivity to create whole new business models, products, processes and services that will breathe new life into the GCI S-curve and open a new cycle of economic growth.
The research also discovered that to effectively deploy AI on a large scale, countries need three equally important components in place: computing power, labelled data, and algorithms. In the present day, "frontrunners" lead the "adopters" and "starters’" clusters in all three components.
The big challenge for all three GCI clusters is reportedly a scarcity of AI developer talent. Governments need to re-think education for a future workplace redefined by AI and start building a healthy, collaborative, and open AI ecosystem to attract and retain competitive AI talent.
This year, the GCI broadened its research scope from 50 to 79 nations, marking the second time it has enlarged its purview since 2015. Based on GCI scores, the newcomers are classified as 20 frontrunners, 37 adopters and 22 starters – according to their level of economic development.
The research continuously shows that when a nation’s GCI score reaches 35 points, ROI in ICT infrastructure experiences a strong multiplier effect.
The Philippines is a prime example. From 2014 to 2017 the Philippines significantly boosted smartphone use and extended primary internet access to a greater portion of the population fostering new business opportunities. Its GCI score moved from 34 to 35, pushing the Philippines over the threshold from Starter to Adopter status.
For the first time, every nation in the Index saw scores improve, but growth in the countries across the GCI S-curve was uneven.
In 2017, the GCI identified a trend of growing inequality it termed the "Matthew effect", wherein frontrunners see ICT infrastructure investment benefits compound over time to position them as unassailable leaders.
South Africa ranks 46th out of 79 countries in GCI 2018 (SA had placed 31 out of 50 countries in 2017). Generally, the country has performed on average levels in terms of broadband, data centres and cloud services. Bandwidth has seen improvement this year, and a one-point growth was also reflected in cloud migration. In addition, South Africa experiences improvements in mobile broadband (MBB) subscription and smartphone penetration.
Moving forward, more investment in ICT infrastructure is necessary to support and facilitate the development ICT in South Africa.
For more on the Global Connectivity Index 2018, visit www.huawei.com.
