Singapore advances to top spot in global digital competitiveness rankings

It moved two places up.

Singapore rose to the top of the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking of the Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD).

The ranking system assesses markets across three key factors: Knowledge, Technology, and Future Readiness.  Each factor is divided into three sub-sectors, encompassing 59 criteria across sub-indicators.

According to the report, Singapore rose to second place in the Knowledge factor and maintained its first place in the Technology factor. It also climbed nine positions to reach the top rank in Future Readiness.

At the subfactor level, Singapore ranks first among 67 economies in Talent, Regulatory Framework, Adaptive Attitudes, Business Agility, and IT Integration.

It showed improvement in Scientific Concentration (9th) and Capital (4th) but declines in Technological Framework (4th) and Training & Education (14th).

At the indicator level, Singapore has advanced in areas such as the international experience of its talent pool (2nd), employee training quality and availability (4th), venture capital availability (1st), attitudes toward globalization (3rd), and company agility (4th).

Singapore also leads in city management, high-tech patent grants, banking, financial services, and public-private partnerships. It ranks second in higher education achievement and PISA math assessment.

Singapore ranked low in total public expenditure on education (65th out of 67), number of women with degrees (41st), female researchers (44th), and telecommunications investment (60th).

Other areas of decline were scientific and technical employment (30th), high-tech exports as a portion of GDP (13th), and wireless broadband speed (17th)."