I used to enjoy walking the streets of the hot cities of Southeast Asia, when I lived in the Philippines for the three-year period 2009-12. Stifling humidity, heat and dust, traffic and other noise, plenty of fetid smells all assaulting your senses while deep poverty assaulted your sensibilities. I loved it.

But amidst the chaos, I saw and experienced a dynamism that I had felt nowhere else. The developing nations of Asia have not only that characteristic striving found in the world's most dynamic places, such as New York, London, or Hong Kong, but also a manic struggle for raw survival that suffuses most levels of their societies.

My constant thought was that these human beehives would ultimately produce dramatic progress, and that there must be a way to measure this. After much thought and experimentation, I discovered a way to measure it, and the Tau Index was born. Published every two years, the index is a measurement of the relative dynamism – and potential progress – of more than 140 nations in the world.

Rather than follow traditional methods (such as that found in the WEF Global Competitive Report), I work with dozens of colleagues throughout the world to determine expectation levels of technological and socioeconomic progress for each nation, then compare this data with actual progress. The report brings into sharp relief star performers that fly under most ranking radar, such as Vietnam, Uruguay, Rwanda, and the country of Georgia. It also recognizes highly developed nations that lead the way among their elite economic peers, notably the Nordics, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Canada.

Now, through the inspiration and guidance of Bruce Taylor and Mehdi Paryavi of the IDCA, I've worked with an enhanced team to produce the first EESG™ Digital Readiness Index of Nations. The Tau Index research underlies just one component of this new index, the first “E” (for Economy). Bruce and Mehdi intuited that the world's contemporary focus on ESG parameters – Environment, Social, and Governance – as applied to nations is incomplete without examining a nation's economy as well.

Technology will drive the global economy's social and economic progress over the foreseeable future, creating new efficiencies in this Industry 4.0 era, cranking up new pressures for government transparency and clean administrations, and give humans a fighting chance to achieve continued progress while working to achieve the GHG abatement that will lead us to Net Zero and address climate change seriously and effectively.

The new EESG report thus integrates national economic conditions with key factors determining the eco-sustainability in time of climate change, societal conditions, and governance commitments toward transformational development in the global digital economy era. From the report's data, government policies can be made, programs instituted, investors informed, and societies enhanced.

The report has much specific data about each country's overall score, and each component of the score. It can also be grouped by regions and income tiers. The Top 10 leaders overall and five leaders within each income tier are as follows:

Top 10 Overall Leaders
Norway | lceland | Denmark | New Zealand | Switzerland | Sweden | Uruguay | Austria | Finland | Canada

Income Tier 1 Leaders (Developed Nations)

Norway | Iceland | Denmark | New Zealand | Switzerland

Income Tier 2 Leaders (Edge Countries)

Uruguay | Costa Rica | Lithuania | Latvia | Croatia

Income Tier 3 Leaders (Emerging Nations)
Georgia | Albania | Brazil | Armenia | Montenegro

Income Tier 4 Leaders (Frontier Markets)

Bhutan | Belize | Kenya | Vietnam | Ukraine

Income Tier 5 Leaders (LDCs – Least Developed Countries)

Rwanda | Ethiopia | Mali | Timor-Leste | Uganda

For information on how to order the report, contact me, or please visit: https://idc-a.org/research