Jordan ranks lower in global digital competitiveness

AMMAN – Jordan ranked 56th out of 63 nations in digital competitiveness, according to a report issued earlier this month by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD).

The report, titled “IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2017”, was designed to “assess the capacity and readiness of a country to adapt, explore and make the most of the digital transformation”, according to the institute. 

As shown in the report, Jordan’s ranking fell over the past five years in digital competitiveness, which is evaluated based on three performance categories: knowledge, technology and future readiness.

The ranking was based on 50 criteria — ranging from talent, capital to business agility and IT integration — which were then split into the three categories above. 

In 2013, Jordan ranked 53rd in the index, 46th in 2014, 49th in 2015 and 48th in 2016.

Knowledge referred to the necessary infrastructure that underlined the process of digital transformation through the understanding and learning of new technologies, while the technology factor assessed the overall context through which the development of digital technology is enabled.

Future readiness examined the level of preparedness of an economy to assume its digital transformation.   

In talent, the Kingdom had a global ranking of 55, down from 40 in 2016, 45 in 2015, 42 in 2014 and 49 in 2013, according to the report, in which Jordan scored 58 in education and training.

In scientific concentration, which measured the total expenditure on research, number of female researchers and high-tech patent grants among others, Jordan ranked 62nd out of the 63 countries.  

As for future readiness, the Kingdom scored 55th in adoptive attitudes, down from 43rd in 2016 and 44th in 2015, while ranking 34th in business agility this year, compared with 31st in 2016 and 28th in 2015. 

In IT integration, Jordan ranked 50th, down from 40th last year and 48th in 2015. 

The top 5 countries found to be the most digitally competitive were named as Singapore, Sweden, the US, Finland and Denmark.