Taiwan has been ranked as the ninth most digitally competitive country this year, moving up two places from last year, among the 64 countries evaluated by the Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD), according to a report that was released yesterday.
The IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking, which used 54 indicators based on three major factors, showed Taiwan in third place in technology, a jump from sixth last year.
For the other two major factors — knowledge and future readiness — Taiwan was ranked 18th and seventh respectively, with the latter representing a rise from eighth place last year.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, among the 54 indicators, Taiwan took the top spot in five areas, namely total research and development (R&D) personnel per capita, information technology (IT) and media stock market capitalization, mobile broadband subscribers, agility of companies, and use of big data and analytics.
Other noteworthy standings included the indicators of higher education achievement and total expenditure on R&D — two areas in which Taiwan rose in the rankings to third place in the IMD report.
Taiwan’s leading performances in fields such as IT, media stock market capitalization and mobile broadband can be attributed to the government’s efforts to provide subsidies and other incentives to telecommunications companies to construct and expand the 5G network infrastructure, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said.
Regarding the future readiness factor, the ministry said that the category primarily measures the degree of digital transformation in a country, and Taiwan ranked first in two indicators — agility of companies and the use of big data and analytics.
This is because Taiwan’s economic model, which features small and medium-sized enterprises, has the advantages of flexibility and quick response to market changes, the ministry said.
The top rankings reflect the government’s effective efforts to subsidize small, medium and micro enterprises to promote digital transformation and technological innovations such as cloud computing and data analysis, the ministry said.
The assessments in the IMD’s latest report would serve as a reference for the government’s policymaking, as part of the efforts to develop Taiwan’s digital economy, promote information security and expand public-private collaboration to achieve digital transformation, the ministry said.
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