Switzerland improves digital competitiveness

Switzerland is on its way to becoming a fully developed digital nation, according to the report's authors © Keystone / Ennio Leanza

Switzerland has made up ground internationally in terms of digital competitiveness, climbing one place – to fifth –  in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking.

Denmark took the top spot, while the US had to settle for second place for the first time since the ranking was introduced in 2017. Sweden and Singapore are ranked better than Switzerland.

The authors of the studyExternal link, published on Wednesday, attribute Switzerland’s improvement primarily to its good performance when it comes to “knowledge”. This is defined as “the necessary know-how to discover, understand and develop new technologies”. Other factors include “future viability” and “technology”.

“Switzerland is on its way to becoming a fully developed digital nation, with satisfactory digital infrastructure and regulation, data governance and digital attitudes,” said Arturo Bris, director of the World Competitiveness Center (WCC) at the Lausanne-based IMD business school.

“A key success factor for the future though will be the introduction of a digital identity program in the country. The top nations in the ranking, such as Denmark and Singapore, are already marking the way in this sense.”

Digital skills weaker

The authors also see a need to catch up in the availability of digital skills. Despite improvements, the values for women with a university degree and the number of female researchers are still comparatively low.

The study was conducted jointly by the industry association digitalswitzerland, the independent academic institution IMD and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). Data from 63 countries was included in the evaluation.