December 4, 2023
BANGKOK – Thailand has moved up five places from the previous year to 35th in the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2023 published recently by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD).
The Swiss-based institute ranked 64 countries and economic zones globally based on three indicators: knowledge, technology and future readiness.
Thailand was in 35th place with an overall score of 70.53, while the top three this year were the United States (100), the Netherlands (98.1) and Singapore (97.4).
Thailand scored 55.99 in digital knowledge (41st globally), 80.06 in digital technology (15th globally), and 57.23 in future readiness (42nd globally). The kingdom improved over the previous year across all three indicators by 4, 5, and 7 places, respectively.
Thailand ranked third in Asean for digital competitiveness, behind Singapore that placed third and Malaysia 33rd globally.
Indonesia also went up six places to 45th, while the Philippines fell three places to 59th.
Theeranan Srihong, Chairman of the Thailand Management Association’s Center for Competitiveness, said on Thursday that Thailand had performed exceedingly well this year in digital knowledge and technology thanks to the advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) technology and related fields.
He reckoned that the country’s future readiness could do with more improvement, especially in the training of skilled workers in the digital industry, as well as in adjusting the regulations to attract talents from overseas.
The areas that Thailand must focus on in the coming year include advanced AI technology, cybersecurity and privacy protection, as the latter two were ranked 58th and 43rd places globally in the IMD ranking, he said.