Networked Society Lab published their “Networked Society City Index” report measuring the ICT maturity of the world's major cities at the 2014 Business Innovation Forum recently held in Stockholm, Sweden, reported Business Korea.

Stockholm, Sweden ranked number one and Seoul ranked 12th in the penetration and usage rates of information and communications technology. For the study 40 major cities around the world were indexed.

The study evaluated the quality of each cities' infrastructure, usage of technology in social communication, and the price of ICT. Furthermore, it researched how much ICT is used to develop economic, environmental, and social networking.

The results showed that Seoul remains 12th out of 40, on account of the low usage of ICT infrastructure for environmental and economic development. This is despite having world's top Internet speed and smartphone penetration. This is also particularly surprising as Koreans are well known for thier intensive usage of technology for communication, a trait that has even led the government to warn against 'smartphone addiction.'

The results of the study named Stockholm as the most advanced city, followed by London, and Paris. Tokyo and Los Angeles ranked 10th and 11th just ahead of Seoul.

Furthermore, Seoul fell behind in ICT development speed. According to the Networked Society Lab, the ICT maturity improvement speed of Seoul ranked 30th, in the lower ranks. First place was ranked by Lagos (Nigeria) followed by Delhi (India), Cairo (Egypt), and Dhaka (Bangladesh).