Australia continues to fall in technology-ready global rankings because it is too risk-averse and conservative with IT spending.

The 2013 Global Information Technology rankings, produced by the World Economic Forum and released Thursday, put Australia at 18th, out of 144 nations, for business and government readiness to benefit from technology. It is down from 9th in 2004 and from 17th last year.

"Lifting productivity is front and centre of the economic agenda":?Innes Willox.

The nation’s ranking for individual technology use rose one spot to 15th, but dropped three places to 25th for business use and down 11 positions to 19th for government.

"This reinforces both the need for high-speed ubiquitous broadband but importantly, the critical need to invest in lifting the skills needed to gain the greatest benefit from this infrastructure," Australian Industry (Ai) Group chief executive Innes Willox said of Australia's ranking.