Switzerland takes second place in the international digitalization barometer
Switzerland is now in second place in the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking (WDCR), an international comparison of 67 countries. This is the country's best position since the ranking was introduced in 2017, with an improvement of three places compared to last year's edition. Singapore takes first place in 2024, followed by Denmark in third place.
"Switzerland's rise to second place underlines the crucial role that skilled talent, effective regulation and the protection of intellectual property play in digital resilience. By further improving cybersecurity measures and promoting citizen engagement in digital spaces, Switzerland can extend its leadership in the digital age," says Christos Cabolis. He is Chief Economist at the IMD's World Competitiveness Center (WCC).
Franziska Barmettler, CEO of digitalswitzerland, adds: "Switzerland's excellent ranking underlines the joint efforts of business, politics and society to promote digitalization in the interests of the country. The goal now must be to remain among the best in the future." It is also clear to Barmettler: "Switzerland still has room for improvement: Digital identity is already a reality in other countries and the electronic patient dossier is also a long time coming. Such projects require not only investment, but also trust in technologies, data security and institutions. The focus must be on building trust so that Switzerland can remain competitive."
Progress in high-tech exports, e-participation and cyber security
The annual ranking, which is compiled by the IMD's World Competitiveness Center (WCC), is based on data and surveys, thus determining the digital competitiveness of 67 global economies and highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.
The ranking divides the results into three factors: Knowledge, Technology and Sustainability. Each of these factors is divided into three sub-factors that shed light on each facet of the areas analyzed. In total, the ranking comprises nine such sub-factors. These nine sub-factors comprise a total of 59 criteria.
Switzerland remains at the top in the knowledge factor and improved in both the technology (fourth place) and future viability (fifth place) factors. The country continues to perform very well in the sub-factors skilled workers (third place), legal framework (second place) and business flexibility (seventh place) and shows notable improvements in the sub-factors research location (second place) and technological framework (seventh place).
In the areas of education and training (8th place) and IT integration (7th place), Switzerland dropped one place in each. However, Switzerland is characterized by an overall balanced performance in all factors of the WDRC and ranks among the top 10 in seven of the nine sub-factors.
"Switzerland's impressive performance in the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking underlines the country's consistent strength in various areas, with a focus on governance, skilled labor and technological infrastructure. Switzerland's ability to attract highly skilled international professionals, as well as its strong intellectual property protection and effective regulatory framework, are testament to its commitment to innovation. With a stable credit rating and top marks for the availability of executives with international experience, Switzerland remains a popular destination for digital investment and knowledge transfer," said José Caballero, Chief Economist at the WCC.
However, despite an increase in high-tech exports and cybersecurity capabilities, Switzerland still struggles with certain technological infrastructure metrics and ranks 52nd in wireless broadband connection speed, for example.
A ranking in the course of time
IMD is continuously developing the ranking in order to best reflect the changing conditions of digital administration, business and society. To this end, the following indicators were introduced or improved this year: an index for computer science education, recording the number of peer-reviewed articles and guidelines on AI, the number of secure internet servers and a measurement of people's flexibility and adaptability in the face of new challenges.
This year, the report accompanying the ranking - The Digital Divide: Risks and Opportunities - examines the global impact of three phenomena: the uneven development of digital infrastructure, geopolitical tensions and the rapid pace of technological development.
Source: www.imd.org
