Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, has come at the lowest rung of the ladder in Ericsson's second edition of Networked Society City Index.The latest index ranks 25 of the world's largest cities according to their ability to transform ICT to social, economic and environmental benefits.The top three cities in the index ' Seoul, Singapore and Stockholm ' have successfully met many social, economic and environmental targets by making extensive investments in ICT. Singapore, for example, is aggressively driving innovation in e-health, and is a pioneer in traffic-congestion management. Seoul, meanwhile, is using ICT to realize many environmental benefits of high tech initiatives.The study also shows that several BRIC cities, such as Sao Paulo and Delhi, have promising initiatives in place to rapidly close the socioeconomic gap through multi-stakeholder ICT engagements. Sao Paulo, in particular, has been awarded several national and international awards for its e-inclusion programs. These initiatives highlight an awareness of the need for improving ICT literacy and the key role that it has in enabling further development.In Delhi, several promising initiatives aim to leverage ICT for the benefit of citizens. An excellent example of a multi-stakeholder project is Eko, which enables low-value financial transactions to be completed using mobile phones or through retail outlets. Eko serve over 1.3 million customers and processed USD 500 million in micro deposits, payments and remittances. In a city such as Delhi, citizens benefit from gaining access to basic financial services ' for example, by using them to engage in entrepreneurial activities and receive payment for their work.Increased GDP per capita often is equated with increased consumption and thus increased impact on the environment, for example due to increased CO2 emissions. This environmental part of this index indicates how ICT can be used to decouple GDP growth and CO2 emissions: a city with high GDP could use ICT to reduce their consumption, for example, with smart commuting, or how a city in a developing country or city can chose a more sustainable development path, by obtaining the same type of services, but for example,. virtually, as opposed to physical products.It is crucial to analyze the perspective of individual citizens. Successful cities excel at attracting ideas, capital and skilled people. Such positive attraction requires constant progress in economic terms, as well as within a social and environmental context,' says Patrik Regrdh, from Ericsson's Networked Society Lab. The new study looks at the benefits ICT has enabled in various cities in areas such as health, education, economy, the environment and efficiency, as well as at citizens' interactions with ICT.Erik Almqvist, Director Arthur D, saays, 'As people get their most basic needs satisfied, attention shifts to, for example, balanced life styles, a rich cultural scene, good transport and transaction facilities, good health also in their senior years, self-fulfillment ' for example - in terms of higher education and a clean environment throughout the city. 'ICT has the potential to improve quality of life in many of these fields and connectivity itself anytime anywhere is increasingly regarded as a basic citizen's right.'The Networked Society City Index is a tool that can help city authorities and decision makers monitor the position and progress of cities along the ICT-development curve. It should be read as the starting point in an open dialogue, rather than the final word on how cities can progress their triple bottom lines
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