Ireland has climbed into the top 20 digitally competitive countries worldwide, ahead of Britain, France and Germany.
The IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2024 places Ireland in 17th position, just behind Israel. That was four places higher than in 2023 and the State’s highest ranking over the past five years, indicating that Ireland is gaining ground as a digital economy.
Singapore topped the list, buoyed by its city management, number of high-tech patent grants, banking and financial services, as well as public-private partnerships. Switzerland, Denmark, the US and Sweden followed.
The report examines the digital competitiveness of 67 economies, measuring their capacity and readiness to adopt and explore digital technologies for economic and social transformation.
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The index looks at three broad areas: knowledge, which focuses on the development and quality of human capital, education, and research outcomes; technology factor, which assesses how supportive the regulatory environment, financial investment framework, and physical tech infrastructure are; and future readiness, which measures how prepared the economy is to adopt digital changes
Ireland scored well in the knowledge category, where it ranked 16th, and also in future readiness, where it was in 11th place.
The report identified strengths in Ireland’s economy such as scientific research legislation, flexibility and adaptability, and the agility of companies. Ireland was ranked first in its ability to seize opportunities and deal with threats, and in the flexibility and adaptability of people when faced with new challenges.
However, the State fell behind in some areas, with weaknesses identified in public expenditure on education and investment in telecommunications.
The US fell by three positions in the overall competitiveness index, weighed down by downward trends in the perceived attitude to globalisation, an increasing entrepreneurial fear of failure and a decrease in the availability of international experience at managerial level. It performed well in AI policies passed into law and on high tech patent grants.
The report also highlighted the role of geopolitical tensions in defining the digital competitiveness of countries.
“Geopolitical rivalries, particularly between major powers, such as the US and China’s technological competition, are fragmenting the digital landscape, influencing not only how other countries develop and use digital technologies but also their ability to compete globally,” said José Caballero, senior economist at the IMD World Competitiveness Center.
“An economy’s ability to compete at the global level is compromised by the trade war between China (up five places to 14th) and the US. It is therefore likely that any new tariffs will encompass national security-related elements. Tensions over technology and security concerns could also intensify, leading the US to further curtail China’s access to advanced technology. That said, it is not entirely clear whether, under the new Trump administration, the US will abandon the relevant Biden policies.”
Disparity in the development of digital infrastructure has also been identified as a challenge to digital competitiveness heading into 2025, with economies in developing regions lacking access to high-speed broadband, reliable electricity and modern telecommunications networks.
“Though it’s clear that the very top digitally competitive economies share strong and balanced performances across all aspects of the ranking, this trend becomes less persistent lower down,” said Mr Caballero.
“An economy’s initial advancement can arise from a specific focus on one of the digital aspects that the ranking measures, for instance by converging efforts towards improving educational output. However, to remain at the top of the ranking, economies need to consolidate their performances across multiple factors. Both the public and private sector have a crucial role to play.”
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