Taiwan places 16th in IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking

2018/06/22

Taiwan is 16th out of 63 countries and territories in the latest World Digital Competitiveness Ranking published June 19 by Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development.
 
 Slipping four spots from last year, Taiwan placed sixth in the Asia-Pacific ahead of Japan, 22nd; Malaysia, 27th; and China, 30th; and trailing Hong Kong, 11th; Australia, 13th; and South Korea, 14th. The U.S. tops the ranking, followed by Singapore and Sweden in that order.
 
 Of the indictors used to assess digital competitiveness and information technology development, Taiwan finished top globally in R&D personnel per capita. The nation also ranked second in IT and media stock market capitalization, and mobile broadband subscribers, as well as third in high-tech exports and educational assessment in math.
 
 According to the Cabinet-level National Development Council, the government is committed to strengthening Taiwan’s digital ecosystem and has already rolled out legislation to tackle key issues identified in the report. Noting that Taiwan ranked 55th in the category of foreign highly skilled personnel, the NDC said that the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals was promulgated in February to foster the hiring and retention of top talents.
 
 This law aims to attract professionals in the fields of architecture, arts and culture, economics, education, finance, law, science and technology as well as sports through such measures as relaxing visa and permanent residency regulations and providing access to the national pension system.
 
 The NDC also said that Taiwan’s drop in this year’s survey is partly due to inaccurate data. Taiwan’s smartphone possession rate was recorded as 70.2 percent, causing the nation to fall from fifth to 27th place in this indictor.
 
 This figure, supplied to IMD by Euromonitor International, is significantly below the level of 89.48 percent determined by the National Communications Commission. The NDC said it has sent an official letter requesting a correction in this category.
 
 Launched in 2017, the survey assesses the digital strengths of economies using 50 indicators in the three categories of knowledge, technology and future readiness.

Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=6&post=136565)