Geneva, Switzerland
USA, Switzerland and the United Kingdom are in that order the countries better prepared for new technologies and emerging countries such as artificial intelligence (AI) or big data, according to an index presented this Thursday by the United Nations where Latin America, led by Brazil and Chile, occupies discreet positions, while Honduras and other Central American nations are in the queue in With regard to technological advances
The Brazilian is in 41st place in a ranking of 158 economies compiled by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Where Chile occupies position 49, Mexico the 57, Costa Rica the 61, Argentina the 65 and Panama the 67, being the Latin American nations more located.
At the bottom of the region are Nicaragua (ranked 125th in the global index), Honduras (122º), Bolivia (116º) and El Salvador (106), while Colombia is 78th, Peru 89th and Venezuela the 99ª.
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In the first places stand out economies such as South Korea (seventh place), Germany (ninth), France (13th), Japan (18th) or Spain (21), while China and India, despite leading in research and development, they are in 25th and 43rd place, respectively, for their telecommunications deficiencies.
The classification was developed by measuring five variables: research and development in new technologies, state of the local telecommunications industry, training for new sectors, funding facilities in them and general deployment of these industries in the country.
The index is part of a report in which UNCTAD has analyzed not only the future of AI and the management of large databases, but also sectors such as the Internet of Things, the blockchain 5G networks, printing 3D, robotics, drones, genetic editing, the nanotechnology and photovoltaic energy.
UNCTAD estimates that these sectors constituted a market of 350 billion dollars in 2018 that in the middle of this decade could almost multiply by 10 to 3.2 trillion dollars, (of them, 1.5 trillion on the Internet of things and 500 billion in robotics).
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The organization wants to emphasize with its study that new technologies are widening the economic gap between developed and developing countries, as has happened since successive industrial revolutions periodically changed the foundations of the economy for 250 years.
“It is essential that developing countries do not lose the wave of cutting-edge technologies, because otherwise inequalities will be further deepened,” UNCTAD Secretary-General Isabelle Durant said in her presentation. which called on companies and firms to better prepare to bridge the gap.
The report also stresses that alongside the enormous opportunities in these nascent sectors come great challenges, such as the risk of automation taking over large-scale jobs, while reducing labor rights.
The study notes that governments have a key role to play in paving the way for technologies, especially in creating an enabling environment and “ensuring that the benefits of these technologies are shared by all.”