Hong Kong rises to No 7 in digital competitiveness ranking, Singapore takes top spot

Hong Kong authorities have hailed the city as one of the most digitally competitive economies in the world, after it rose to seventh place in the latest annual ranking by a Swiss academic institute.

The city climbed three places from last year in the 2024 edition of the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking published by the International Institute for Management Development, with strong performances in the “technology” and “knowledge” categories.

The report released on Monday said Hong Kong “bounced back strongly” after dropping one place last year, while Singapore, Switzerland and Denmark took the top three places, respectively.

In individual categories, Hong Kong performed well in “knowledge” at fifth place, and ranked third in “technology”, with key gains in employee training and use of big data.

Strengths in education and ease of business also contributed to Hong Kong’s progress, though challenges remained in IT integration and cybersecurity, the report said.

The institute said Singapore’s strengths included its city management, number of hi-tech patent grants, banking and financial services, and its public-private partnerships.