UAE news agency Wam.ae, on Thursday, October 1 reported UAE’s ranking factors in the “World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2020” issued by the IMD World Competitiveness Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland. UAE ranks best in the Arab world and 9th in the world
In this fourth year, IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking measured the capacity and readiness of 63 economies through three key factors (Knowledge, Technology and Future readiness), nine sub-factors and 52 criteria to adopt and explore digital technologies as a key driver for economic transformation in business, government and wider society. It uses an array of data to understand how 63 economies employ digital technologies.
Ranked 9th globally, ahead of countries such as Australia, China, Germany, France, Japan, and Belgium, the UAE has maintained its leadership and innovation in the Arab world across all categories of the rankings that majorly encompass ‘Technology’ where it ranks 4th globally, ‘Future Readiness” where it ranks 11th globally, and ‘Knowledge’ where it advanced four places.
Speaking of UAE’s position in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking, Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy, said,
“The fact that the UAE ranked first globally in the ‘Public-Private Partnerships’ confirms the strong belief of its government in the importance of the partnership between the public and private sectors, upon the directives of the country’s leadership to promote the role of the private sector, as one of the key cornerstones of the national economy.”
On similar lines, Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Director-General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, TRA, praised the UAE’s performance in this year’s rankings and its advancement in this strategic sector, saying,
“The results achieved by the UAE in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2020 represent a global recognition of its achievements in the area of global competitiveness, confirming the country’s capacity to adapt and develop various forms of digital technologies that will facilitate the digital transformation of its government authorities, business sector and community.”
Major General Mansour Ahmed Al Dhaheri, Director-General of the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, ICA, stated,
“The Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship has attached great importance to digital transformation in its method of work, which is based on improving ICA’s performance in the field of digital transformation, and the integrated digitisation of operations and services, starting with 100 percent automating its services and reducing the percentage of customers in customer happiness centres to 80 percent by 2021. As investment in human capital is the engine of development, we will work with all our strategic partners to spread digital awareness and build a digital culture among all members of society,
Sub-factor rankings of UAE in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2020 index
- Wireless broadband – Rank #1
- Public-private partnerships – Rank #1
- Immigration laws – Rank #1
- Foreign highly skilled personnel – Rank #2
- Use of big data and analytics by businesses – Rank #2
- Management of cities – Rank #3
- Net flow of international students – Rank #3
- Foreign highly-skilled personnel – Rank #3
- Legal Framework – Rank #3
- Opportunities and threats – Rank #4
- Cyber Security – Rank #4
- Attitudes toward Globalisation – Rank #5
- Talent – Rank #5
Professor Arturo Bris, Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center, said,
“In the midst of uncertainty and a fluid global situation, it seems that business and societies that are agile correlate strongly with the IMD World Digital Competitiveness ranking. Knowledge also remains of paramount importance for the digital performance of different economies. COVID-19 has shown the importance of digitalisation as one way to increase resilience. An economy’s ability to adopt new technologies quickly in response to the changing landscape that the pandemic has brought about will affect its recovery speed.Recovery is driven by many factors, such as the health of public finances. But also, fundamentally, by the digital competitiveness of those economies,” he explained.
