The Republic of Ireland has dropped one place in a global ranking of the best countries for adopting digital technologies.
The US and Singapore are in first and second place respectively again, followed by Denmark, Sweden and Hong Kong. Ireland is in 20th place.
The IMD World Digital Competitiveness ranking measures the capacity and readiness of 63 economies to adopt and explore digital technologies as a key driver for economic transformation in business, government and wider society.
The State declined nine places globally to 14th in the “future-readiness” category, which looks at how countries are doing in terms of factors such as having strong business agility and adaptive attitudes towards issues such as globalisation.
In the “knowledge” segment, the Republic was unchanged at 24th. It recorded a sharp drop in it score for talent and training and education although its score for scientific concentration rose versus the previous year.
In the “technology” section, the State is placed 30th globally, down two places versus last year, with IMD rating it in the higher levels for its regulatory framework but poorly for its technological framework and for capital-related issues such as investment in telecommunications.
