The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland, today (4th) released its 2025 World Digital Competitiveness Ranking (DCR), in which Taiwan ranked 10th globally among 69 major countries and economies. The Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) stated that among the 3 evaluation factors, Taiwan's most outstanding performance was in the "Future Readiness" factor, where its global ranking jumped 3 places from last year to 3rd. In terms of other 2 factors, "Technology" and "Knowledge," Taiwan ranked 11th and 16th globally, respectively. Overall, Taiwan secured a global top-3 ranking in 8 indicators, thereby demonstrating its top-tier strength in specific digital domains. MODA noted that, for the indicators where Taiwan did not score as highly in the report, it would subsequently work with government agencies to study and develop concrete improvement measures to ensure Taiwan maintains its digital development advantage.

MODA explained that Taiwan was ranked among the top 3 globally in 8 indicators, which underscores its strengths in R&D capacity, higher education, and business agility, thus laying a solid foundation for the development of the AI industry and digital transformation. Specifically, Taiwan continued to hold the top place in the indicator "IT and media stock market capitalization as a share of GDP." Taiwan ranked 2nd in 3 indicators: "total R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP," "R&D personnel per thousand people," and "agility of companies." Furthermore, Taiwan ranked 3rd in 4 indicators: "educational assessment PISA - Math," "percentage of the population aged 25-34 with higher education," "corporate agility in responding to business opportunities or threats," and "corporate proficiency in using big data and analytics to aid decision-making."

The IMD ranking uses 3 main factors, Knowledge, Technology, and Future Readiness, 9 sub-factors, and 61 indicators to assess the capacity and readiness of countries around the world to adapt to, explore, and fully utilize digital transformation.

MODA indicated that the “Knowledge” factor primarily reflects the capacity of the assessed countries to learn new technologies. Taiwan ranked 16th globally in this factor, marking an improvement of 3 places from the previous year. The rankings for indicators such as "total R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP," "senior managers with international experience," "domestic business environment's ability to attract foreign high-level talent," "proportion of scientific and technical personnel in the total employed population," "corporate emphasis on employee training," and "percentage of female graduates in higher education" all showed improvement. This demonstrates Taiwan's commitment to digital and technology talent development in both the academic and employment stages. MODA will continue to promote digital talent cultivation, collaborating with enterprises to reinforce fundamental training for youth and the digital empowerment of cross-disciplinary professionals. Furthermore, it will strengthen the recruitment of international digital experts to increase the supply of digital talent needed by the R&D and industry sectors.

The “Technology” factor is used to assess a country's capacity to develop digital innovation technologies, and Taiwan ranked 11th globally in this factor. Improvements were observed in the rankings of indicators such as "legal support for technology development and application," "scientific research laws that encourage innovation," "funding for technological development," "telecommunications investment as a percentage of GDP," and "communication technologies (voice and data) meeting enterprise needs." This highlights the effectiveness of the Taiwanese government in creating a technology innovation-friendly environment and promoting the construction and application of 5G networks. In response to the AI boom, MODA will strive to perfect a legal framework conducive to the development and application of AI. Furthermore, it will strengthen the implementation of AI industry policies from a product-oriented perspective and promote investment in the AI industry, with the goal of continuously advancing Taiwan's rank in these indicators.

The “Future Readiness” factor measures a country's extent of digital transformation. Taiwan ranked 3rd globally in this factor, an improvement of 3 places compared to last year. Improvements were also observed in the rankings of indicators such as "corporate agility in responding to business opportunities or threats," "corporate proficiency in using big data and analytics to aid decision-making," "Internet retailing," "people's flexibility and adaptability to new challenges," "development and maturation of knowledge transfer between industry and academia," "working population who give up entrepreneurial opportunities for fear of failure," "public-private partnerships that stimulate technological development," and "degree of legal protection for Internet user privacy." These results not only reflect Taiwan's high competitiveness in corporate agility and underscore the government's achievements in public-private technology cooperation and personal data privacy protection, but also showcase the resilience of the public when facing a dynamic environment.

MODA announced that regarding the weaker indicators cited in the IMD report, specifically "proportion of female researchers" and "student-to-faculty ratio in higher education," relevant agencies will subsequently collaborate to address these issues. Regarding the "level of legalization of AI policies," MODA has already proposed the Draft Act on Promoting the Development of Data Innovation and Utilization and submitted it to the Executive Yuan for review. In the future, following the third reading and passage of the AI Basic Act, MODA will promptly introduce an "AI Risk Classification Framework." MODA will also collaborate with all government agencies to revise relevant regulations or guidelines concerning the impact of AI, and will proactively publish English-language materials to continuously strengthen international communication and enhance the visibility of Taiwan's efforts and achievements in AI governance.

Moving forward, MODA will continue to evaluate its digital development strengths, focusing on 4 main pillars: "Promoting AI Industry Development," "Strengthening Cybersecurity Resilience," "Implementing Anti-Fraud Measures," and "Enhancing Digital Government Construction." In doing so, MODA aims to accelerate digital innovation and transformation across the public and private sectors, guiding society toward a safer, more convenient, and prosperous digital future.