The UAE is ranked first in the Arab region and 12th globally among highly competitive countries in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2019, issued by the IMD World Competitiveness Centre, Lausanne, Switzerland, one of the highly specialised institutions in this field worldwide.

According to the report, the UAE has advanced five positions from the previous year's ranking, to be ranked 12th globally and first in the Arab Region. In this year's report, the UAE has also progressed to achieve the first rank in the Arab Region in all three main factors of the report, namely the "technology" factor, in which the country achieved the second rank globally, advancing by five ranks from last year,  and the 9th globally in “Future Readiness” factor, progressing from the  12th rank last year. The UAE advanced one rank in the "knowledge" factor to be the first in the Arab Region and 35th globally.

Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA director general, praised the UAE performance in the 2019 report and the achievement of high ranks in this strategic sector. Al Mansoori said: “The UAE progress in the Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2019 is a new global testimony added to the UAE record of achievements and teamwork. I would like to thank our partners in government and private sectors for their efforts and collaboration to enhance the competitiveness of the country and its progress in all global indicators and reports. ”

The analysis prepared by the Competitiveness Strategy Team at the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority for the factors and sub-factors of this report showed that the UAE achieved outstanding performance in a large number of factors and sub-factors.

In the “Knowledge” factor, which tracks the performance of the country by measuring three sub-factors - “Talent”, “training & education” and “scientific concentration” - the UAE is ranked first globally in “international expertise” and second globally in “management of cities”. It is ranked third globally in “net flow of international students”, fourth globally in “employee training” and fifth globally in “foreign highly-skilled personnel”.

The “Technology” factor monitors technological progress through three main sub-factors: “regulatory framework”, “capital” and “technological framework”. Moreover, the UAE has achieved advanced positions globally in these sub-factors, ranking first, second and fifth globally. In terms of indicators: the UAE is ranked first globally in “immigration laws” and “wireless broadband”, ranked 3rd globally in “development and application of technology”, “banking and financial services”, and “venture capital”, and 4th globally in “funding for technological solution”.

The third and last factor, “Future Readiness”, monitors countries' readiness for change in different sectors, and the role of technology in handling changes, by measuring three sub-factors: "adaptive attitudes", "business agility" and "IT integration". In this factor, the UAE is ranked first globally in four sub-indicators: "Agility of companies", "Use of big data and analytics", "Public-private partnership" and "Opportunities and threats". The UAE is ranked second globally in “Cyber security” and third globally in “knowledge transfer” and “Attitudes toward globalization”.

Al Mansoori highlighted the key role of federal and local government entities and the private sector in achieving the vision, aspirations and goals set by the wise leadership for the continuous development and improvement of technological infrastructure, as well as supporting training and development initiatives for national capacities in the field of information technology, and encouraging research and development in ICT and advanced science.

Al Mansoori also emphasised on the task of executive teams for competitiveness indicators, which consists of representatives of numerous federal and local government entities, responsible for enhancing the country's position in economic and social indicators in general, and the digital competitiveness index in particular, as this indicator reflects the progress in digital and electronic transformations represented in Artificial Intelligence (AI) projects and big data to support and develop smart government services and build smart cities.

Al Mansoori concluded by saying:  “Technology today is the cornerstone of the economic and social development strategies and plans adopted by the world's advanced economies. Innovation is the key for success and cooperation among individuals, federal and local government entities in the development of solutions, and future foresight plays an accelerating role of this innovation and thus improve the country and society."

The World Digital Competitiveness Ranking wasadded to the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook in 2017. The ranking is based on 50 indicators grouped into nine sub-factors that form three main factors: knowledge, technology and future readiness. The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook is an important global reference for many other international institutions that rely on this report to conduct their studies and publish their reports. Additionally, many academic institutions consider it an important measure to identify international best practices. - TradeArabia News Service