IMD World Digital Competitiveness

3. Top 10 economies in digital competitiveness The US returns to the top position in the overall ranking of the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2023. The Netherlands moves up to second place (from sixth) and Singapore to third (from fourth). While Denmark declines to the fourth spot down from the top position, Switzerland remains in fifth place. The Republic of Korea rises to sixth place. Conversely, Sweden declines four positions to seventh and Finland one rank to eighth. Taiwan rises to the ninth position, returning to the top 10. Hong Kong SAR rounds up the top of the ranking, dropping one position. The US ranks first out of 64 economies we cover in the overall WDCR. At factor level, the US ranks second in future readiness, second in knowledge, and sixth in technology. Such a strong performance in the digital factors enables the country to recapture the top place in this edition of the ranking. At the subfactor level, the US ranks first in scientific concentration and capital, and second in adaptive atti tudes and business agility. However, it’s placed at 12th in the talent subfactor, reaching only the 20 th position in the training and education subfactor. The US’ top position is underlined by its robust perfor mance at the indicator level, such as in internet retailing and software piracy (first in both), as well as in the avail ability of venture capital (second), robots in education, and R&D and R&D productivity by publication (number of scientific articles over R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP), ranking third in the latter two criteria. In addi tion, the country’s performance is strongly improving in several indicators, including internet bandwidth speed (third), the effectiveness of public-private partnerships (ninth), and mobile broadband subscribers (11th). There are, however, some signs of concern for the sustainability of the country’s digital competitiveness. For instance, it ranks 35 th in PISA (math) educational assessment, 37 th in the privacy protection by law content, 41 st in the impact of immigration laws on competitiveness, 46 th in graduates in sciences, and 50 th in attitudes toward globalization. The US also drops positions in various indicators such as e-participation (10 th ), the efficiency of banking and financial services (18 th ), investment in telecommunications (as a percentage of GDP, 25 th ), and the effectiveness of communications technology (35 th ). The Netherlands ranks second in the overall WDCR, which represents an improvement (from sixth). The latter largely originates in its advancement in two factors, future readiness and knowledge, in which the country ranks fourth and seventh respectively. It ranks fifth in the technology factor. Among the subfactors, the Netherlands reaches its best performance in regulatory

framework and capital (second in both), talent (third), and adaptive attitudes (sixth). The country’s performance in regulatory framework played an important role in its advancement in the overall ranking. The crucial contributors to the Netherlands’ rise in the ranking include its improvements in indicators such as the adequacy of the private sector’s cybersecurity (12th), total public expenditure on education (22 nd ), and higher education achievement (percentage of population with at least tertiary education, 16 th ). Other contributors are the effectiveness of scientific research legislation (fourth), e-participation (fifth), agility of companies (10 th ), and the private sector’s use of big data and analytics to support decision-making (13th). Among the strengths of the Netherlands at the indicator level are the country credit rating (first) and three indicators in which it ranks second: its attractiveness for foreign highly skilled personnel, IT and media stock market capitalization (percentage of total stock market capitalization), and the adequacy of the implementation of intellectual property rights. The country also performs robustly (third) in knowl edge transfer, scientific and technical employment (percentage of total employment), and the availability of senior managers with significant international experi ence. The Netherlands’ weaknesses include government cybersecurity capacity (41 st ), investment in telecommu nications (45 th ), and contract enforcement (45 th ). Other indicators in which the Netherlands’ performance is deficient include female researchers (percentage of total researchers, 47 th ) and graduates in sciences (51 st ). Also, the country declines in internet bandwidth speed (16 th ) and attitudes toward globalization (11th). Singapore ranks third in the overall WDCR, progressing one position. It improves in the knowledge factor, reaching the third position. Singapore remains first in the technology factor and 10 th in the future readiness factor. At the subfactor level, Singapore is first in the regulatory framework, second in the technological framework, fourth in talent, and ninth in training and education. Although it improves in the adaptive atti tudes subfactor (13th), it declines in the business agility subfactor (14 th ). Singapore’s improvement in the overall WDCR is largely due to its continued strong performance in talent, regulatory and technological frameworks, and its improvement in adaptive attitudes. At the indicator level, progress in some criteria contrib utes to Singapore’s advancement in the overall ranking. These indicators include wireless broadband (penetration rate per 100 people, sixth), tablet possession (percentage

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