The Philippines improves ranking in digital competitiveness

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines remained near the bottom of the world standings in terms of digital competitiveness amid a one-notch improvement in this year’s ranking, according to a report of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD).

The Philippines climbed one spot to 55th place out of 63 economies in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2019 and ranked 12th among the 14 Asia-Pacific economies covered by the report.

IMD’s World Digital Competitiveness Ranking assesses the extent to which a country adopts and explores digital technologies leading to transformation in government practices, business models and society in general.

The report examines three factors to evaluate the digital competitiveness of an economy. These are knowledge or the capacity to understand and learn the new technologies, technology or the competence to develop new digital innovations, and future readiness or the preparedness for the coming developments.

Of the three factors, the country saw its ranking go up for technology, but posted a decline for knowledge and future readiness.

The Philippines topped the world ranking for high-tech exports, which is sub-factor under technology. It also ranked 7th globally in terms of female researchers.

Meanwhile, the country was among the least competitive when it comes to capital expenditure on research and development, starting a business, enforcing contracts, and internet retailing.

Overall, the US is the world’s most digitally competitive economy, followed by Singapore, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland.

Rounding up the top 10 are the Netherlands, Finland, Hong Kong, Norway and Korea.

IMD said several Asian economies advance significantly in the ranking compared to last year, with Hong Kong and Korea entering the top 10 for the first time.

“These countries showed strong progress in their technological infrastructure and the agility of their businesses” said Arturo Bris, director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center.

“Technology not only affects how businesses perform, but also how countries function and prepare for the future. Governments around the world are investing heavily in their digital economy to enhance value creation and prosperity,” the IMD said.

The World Digital Competitiveness Ranking is produced by the IMD World Competitiveness Center, a research center at IMD Business School in Singapore and Switzerland.