Move over, EQ and IQ, there's a new Q in town. DQ or Digital Quotient tells you how savvy you are in the digital space. Take up the challenge to find out your DQ and know where you stand among the "digerati" – a community made up of the digital elite.

To reflect the importance of a different type of intellectual aptitude in today's online world, Microsoft Advertising has created the Digital Quotient (DQ), an online assessment tool to gauge the digital awareness and knowledge of advertising professionals in the Asia-Pacific region. Each test consists of 20 questions across five categories – Digital Basics, Digital Media Trends, Consumer Behavior, Ad Performance, and Digital Creativity – which are randomly selected from the overall question database of 120 questions.

The DQ aims to tell marketers and advertisers what they need to know to keep pace with the rapidly evolving world of digital marketing. The test will help them ascertain their strengths and weaknesses, and point them to areas where they need to boost particular skills.

"When you consider that by 2013 the Asia Pacific region alone will account for some US$21.2 billion worth of revenue from mobile and Internet advertising, you can expect that fierce competition will be brewing," said Kenneth Andrew, Marketing Director, Microsoft Advertising. "Marketers who are not in synch with the times will most certainly fail to capture the potential of engaging with consumers who are spending increasing amounts of time online.

"We recognized that there was no existing benchmark for people to assess their knowledge in the digital space. The DQ test sets a standard which allows professionals to determine where they stand in relation to the rest of the industry."

The DQ test was originally developed by Microsoft Advertising Taiwan in September 2009, and within two months, it garnered participation from over 500 industry professionals. The results showed that Taiwan-based industry professionals were generally digitally savvy, with all scoring over 55 percent, and a third of respondents even obtaining a score of over 80 percent.

Now launched in Asia-Pacific, the DQ test also comes with a contest element. Not only will the region's digerati get the chance find out how digitally savvy they are, the overall highest DQ test winner will win a trip to SPIKES Asia Advertising Festival in Singapore from 19 to 21 September, and an XBOX 360, courtesy of Microsoft Advertising.

Following the announcement of the overall contest winners at SPIKES, the DQ test will still be available online for users to assess themselves. Given the rapid pace of movement in the digital industry, the questions will be frequently amended and updated to reflect changes in the industry.

"The Digital Quotient is an important tool in the education of industry personnel as it provides the framework for plugging their knowledge gaps. As one of the leading global players in digital advertising, we are committed to working with digital marketers to improve their understanding of the digital media landscape. We look forward to working with agencies and marketers from around the region on the Digital Quotient," added Andrew.

What is your Digital Quotient?

Aspiring digerati can participate in the Digital Quotient test at http://advertising.microsoft.com/asia/dqtest