Global Finance classifies the countries of the world according to their technological advancement and their ability to develop and benefit from advanced technology.
Global Finance classifies the countries of the world according to their technological advancement and their ability to develop and benefit from advanced technology.
The ever-increasing battle for technological advantage and supremacy continues. In a year full of developments in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and green technology, Global Finance It has a new set of scores and rankings for national technology strength based on a unique combination of evaluative metrics.
The most technologically advanced country in the world: South Korea
South Korea remains a world leader in technological advancement, ranking first once again. Giant consumer electronics companies invest heavily in research and development, while their citizens combine advanced technological skills with a creative culture. The East Asia region is well represented in the list of the top 20 countries, along with Japan, Taiwan and Singapore.
Europe and Asia are at the forefront of technology
Developed Asian and European countries still dominate the top of the rankings. Aside from the United States (2), all of the top 17 countries are among the richest countries in one of these two regions. Taiwan jumped a few places to third place, due to increased investment in research and development. Germany – known for its engineering prowess since before World War II – is now actively using this expertise in green energy. Many of the world's leaders in technological innovation are small political states less able to rely on rich supplies of natural resources for economic power, such as the Nordic countries, Belgium, Switzerland and Japan.
Israel (6), thanks to its strong startup ecosystem, has also achieved significant gains. The relatively small country continues to make huge investments in research and development. Israeli companies are advancing rapidly in life sciences, military technology and other sectors, and the country has become a global leader — the world's sixth largest — for raising technological capital. The United Arab Emirates came in second place in the Middle East, coming in at 18th.
On the other hand, Japan (16) fell significantly in the rankings due to the low percentage of its population using the Internet. Japan relies significantly on analogue devices in the public sector, and its digital competitiveness has declined due to a lack of technological flexibility in business and low international technology experience.
Dwindling expectations for technological innovation: China and India
The world's most populous developing countries, which are expected to witness strong growth in technological progress, suffered in this year's rankings, despite government support, deep scientific knowledge and significant technological expertise in various sectors.
China (41) and India (65) fell in the rankings, despite the prevailing wisdom that both will advance quickly. The number of Internet users in China, which amounts to about 73%, is still much lower than its economic counterparts such as Russia, Mexico, Argentina, or the group of countries that are more technologically advanced. While China invests heavily in the research and development of biotechnologies, it lacks the ability to leverage its population to achieve greater technological progress. The Chinese government has also taken strict measures against the private technology sector, limiting and even shrinking its scope and size.
For its part, India has invested a very small amount of its country's GDP in research and development projects. Although the goal of establishing the National Research Foundation is to help increase investment and support education and technological and scientific progress, it may not play the pivotal role that India desires. To round that off, Brazil (55th), Indonesia (59th), and Russia (44th) remain in poor positions, and have made little, if any, gains in technological strength. Russia scores above average only in the proportion of population using the Internet. The war with Ukraine stimulated the migration of technological expertise, creating the possibility of a “brain drain” of technological and scientific professionals for years to come.
How do we classify national technological progress?
First, we combined two measures that represent the breadth and adoption of technology in a country: Internet users as a percentage of the country's population, and LTE (4G) users as a percentage of the population. This combination demonstrates the availability of Internet use across the broader population and resists overreliance on measuring the strength of only high-tech industries and institutions. The third metric is the Digital Competitiveness Score, created and collected by the IMD Global Competitiveness Centre. This clustering depends on multiple factors including technological knowledge, existing technological strength, and willingness/ability to create and develop new innovations. It basically measures a country's current technological environment and its prospects for future success.
The final measure is the portion of GDP spent on R&D, which represents the government's investment in future technological development as well as the desire to compete for future progress. All of these metrics combine to classify countries according to the cutting edge of technological capabilities as well as the mastery of said technologies by their populations.
The results provide some insights into the areas in which countries differentiate themselves from those below them. Compared to last year, the differences are now more pronounced in the degree of digital competitiveness and investment in R&D. These factors have become increasingly widespread between higher and lower countries. At the same time, the differences between the top and bottom countries in both LTE penetration and Internet users as a percentage of the population decreased. This makes sense because once a country expands its Internet base and LTE network to nearly 100%, it is impossible to continue doing so. On the other hand, developing countries can gain by expanding their access to the Internet.
| The most technologically advanced countries and territories in the world |
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