Global Finance ranks the world’s countries by their technological advancement and capacity to develop and leverage cutting-edge technology.
Author:
Marc Getzoff
The ever-growing battle for technological advantage and supremacy continues. In a year full of advances in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, green technology, Global Finance has a new set of scores and rankings for national technological strength based on a unique fusion of evaluative metrics.
South Korea: Most Technologically Advanced Country In The World
South Korea remains a world leader in technological advancement, again taking the top slot. Its consumer electronics giants invest heavily in research and development, while its citizens combine advanced technological skills with an innovative culture. East Asia is well-represented in the top 20, with Japan, Taiwan and Singapore.
Europe And Asia At The Forefront
Developed Asian and European nations continue to dominate the top of the rankings. Apart from the United States (2), all the top 17 countries are among the wealthiest countries in one of those two regions. Taiwan jumped up a few spots to #3, due to increasing investment into research and development. Germany—known for its engineering prowess since before World War II—is now actively using that expertise in the field of green energy. Many of the world’s leaders in technological innovation are small political jurisdictions that are less able to rely on rich supplies of natural resources for economic power, such as the Nordic nations, Belgium, Switzerland and Japan.
Israel (6), with its robust startup ecosystem, also gained significantly. The relatively small nation continues to put immense investment into 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 hub—for raising tech capital. The UAE was a second Middle East standout, coming in at #18.
Japan (16), on the other hand, fell back significantly in the rankings because the percentage of its population that uses the internet is falling. Japan sports a notable reliance on analog in the public sector, and also declined in its Digital Competitiveness due to a lack of business technological agility and declining international experience in technology.
Diminished Expectations for Technological Innovation
The world’s most populous developing countries, both expected to see strong growth in technological progress, struggled in this year’s ranking, despite government support, deep scientific knowledge and significant technological expertise in various sectors.
China (41) and India (65) fell back in the rankings, despite prevailing wisdom that both would advance rapidly. China’s internet population, at around 73%, still falls very far below its economic peers such as Russia, Mexico, and Argentina or the group of most technologically advanced countries. While China invests significantly into research & development for critical technologies, it lacks the ability to utilize its population for greater technological advancement. The Chinese
