Lessons From the Net Vitality Index

[Commentary] What makes the five top-tier global broadband Internet ecosystem leaders -- the United States, South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom and France -- so outstanding? The broadband leaders of the Net Vitality Index (a composite of 52 indices covering applications, content, devices and networks, along with relevant macroeconomic factors) have a powerful common driving force -- innovation.

Innovation is the result of unusual effort. “Once a company achieves competitive advantage through innovation, it can sustain it only through relentless improvement,” according to Harvard University professor Michael Porter. This powerful lesson of the centrality of innovation is directly applicable to the desired goal of promoting continuous net vitality.

[Stuart Brotman is a faulty member at Harvard Law School and a nonresident senior fellow at The Brooking Institute]