Taiwan has been ranked as the ninth most digitally competitive country this year, moving up two places from last year, among the 64 countries evaluated by the Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD), according to a report that was released yesterday.
The IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking, which used 54 indicators based on three major factors, showed Taiwan in third place in technology, a jump from sixth last year.
For the other two major factors — knowledge and future readiness — Taiwan was ranked 18th and seventh respectively, with the latter representing a rise from eighth place last year.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, among the 54 indicators, Taiwan took the top spot in five areas, namely total research and development (R&D) personnel per capita, information technology (IT) and media stock market capitalization, mobile broadband subscribers, agility of companies, and use of big data and analytics.
Other noteworthy standings included the indicators of higher education achievement and total expenditure on R&D — two areas in which Taiwan rose in the rankings to third place in the IMD report.
Taiwan’s leading performances in fields such as IT, media stock market capitalization and mobile broadband can be attributed to the government’s efforts to provide subsidies and other incentives to telecommunications companies to construct and expand the 5G network infrastructure, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said.
Regarding the future readiness factor, the ministry said that the category primarily measures the degree of digital transformation in a country, and Taiwan ranked first in two indicators — agility of companies and the use of big data and analytics.
This is because Taiwan’s economic model, which features small and medium-sized enterprises, has the advantages of flexibility and quick response to market changes, the ministry said.
The top rankings reflect the government’s effective efforts to subsidize small, medium and micro enterprises to promote digital transformation and technological innovations such as cloud computing and data analysis, the ministry said.
The assessments in the IMD’s latest report would serve as a reference for the government’s policymaking, as part of the efforts to develop Taiwan’s digital economy, promote information security and expand public-private collaboration to achieve digital transformation, the ministry said.
‘UNFRIENDLY’: Changing the nationality listing of Taiwanese residents to ‘China’ goes against EU foreign policy as well as democratic and human rights principles, MOFA said Taiwan yesterday called on Denmark to correct its designation of the nationality of Taiwanese residents as “China” or face retaliatory measures. The Danish government in 2024 changed the nationality of Taiwanese citizens on their residence permits from “Taiwan” to “China.” The decision goes against EU foreign policy and contravenes democratic and human rights principles, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said. Denmark should present a solution acceptable to Taiwan as soon as possible and correct the erroneous designation to preserve the longstanding friendship between the two nations, Hsiao said. The issue could damage Denmark’s image and business reputation in Taiwan,
Taiwan climbed to its highest position in global export rankings in more than three decades last year, buoyed by demand linked to artificial intelligence (AI) that lifted shipments of semiconductors and technology products, Ministry of Finance data released yesterday showed. Taiwan accounted for 2.4 percent of global exports last year, or about US$640 billion, ranking 12th worldwide, the data showed. That was up four places from a year earlier and marked the nation’s best ranking since 1994, the ministry said. Taiwan’s share of global exports rose by 0.5 percentage points from the previous year, the largest increase among major economies, reflecting the nation’s
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
J-6 REMODEL: The converted drones are part of Beijing’s expanding mix of airpower weapons, including bombers with stand-off missiles and UAV swarms, the report said China has stationed obsolete supersonic fighters converted to attack drones at six air bases close to the Taiwan Strait, a report published this month by the Arlington, Virginia-based Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies said. Satellite imagery of the airfields from the institute’s “China Airpower Tracker” shows what appear to be lines of stubby, swept-winged aircraft matching the shape of J-6 fighters that first flew with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force in the 1960s. Since their conversion to drones, the aircraft have been identified at five bases in China’s Fujian Province and one in Guangdong Province, the report said. J.
RSS