Digital_Ranking_Report_2021

Figure 2 : Average Digital Competitiveness Ranking (1-63) by sub-region.

For sub-region composition, see the appendix.

pandemic challenged the capacity of a country to adopt a new, more secluded environment, which led to adjustments of both our social and professional lives. Academic institutions of any level were mostly closed. Therefore, both, students and participants on the one hand and instructors on the other had to fulfil their obligations from a distance. Similarly, many other professionals whose occupations allowed them to work from home, undertook this practice. People also became highly reliant on ordering their necessities online. This, in turn, implied that the selection of products and the payment processes took place digitally. In fact, families and friends began congregating in the digital space as well! To succeed in such a rapidly shifting landscape, a country and its citizens had to be able to adopt and explore new digital technologies that transform government practices, business models, and society in general. This is indeed what the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking quantifies. That is, the capacity of 64 economies to use digital technologies in order to transform themselves. We quantify this ability by employing three factors: Knowledge, Technology and Future Readiness. The Knowledge factor refers to the intangible infrastructure that underlines the process of digital transformation through the discovery, understanding and learning of new technologies. These aspects are captured by indicators that measure the quality of the human capital available in the country, the level of investments in education and research as well as the outcomes of these investments (e.g., registered patent grants in high-tech fields or scientific publications in academic journals).

The Technology factor assesses the overall context through which the development of digital technologies is enabled. This includes criteria that track how much friendly regulation is facilitating innovation in the private sector, the availability of capital for investments and the quality of the technological infrastructure in place. Finally, the Future Readiness factor examines the degree to which governments, business and society at large are adopting technology.. Examples of indicators included in this factor are the diffusion of: internet retailing (e-commerce); of industrial robots and data analytics tools in the private sector; and of e-government services. The ranking does not specifically measure issues related to the pandemic. Nevertheless, technology, as argued, has been one of the most important tools for addressing the crisis. Better access to advanced IT hardware (broadband, tablet possession) and services (e-government) are those that display higher IT usage (internet retailing). All these are indicators that help measure a country’s transition to the new landscape adopted to accommodate the pandemic. In what follows, we present an outline of the findings of the ranking. We identify the overall trends and dive into the specific characteristics of the five most digitally competitive economies. Among other issues, we recognise what mid- and upper-level executives in these five economies perceive to be their most successful transformations. The subsequent session identifies the bigger picture and places the results in a longer period perspective, examining the evolution of regions and countries over the last five years.

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IMD WORLD DI G I TAL COMPET I T I VENESS RANK ING 2021