Which economies showed digital progress in 2020?
Posted on Jan 30th 2021
To explore these questions, Tuft’s University partnered with Mastercard and developed an interactive policy simulator to analyze 90 economies. This analysis was based on 160 indicators across four key drivers explained below:
Supply Condition:
In supply chain condition, help was taken from digital and physical infrastructure required to facilitate a digital sound environment. This can include the availability of roads for e-commerce fulfillment, internet availability, and facilitation by governments.
Demand Condition:
Are the consumers of that economy willing to engage in the digitization process? Do they have the necessary skills and tools to partake in the digital ecosystem? These questions also help in the understanding of a digitization-based economy.
Institutional conditions:
Do the nation's laws (and its administration's activities) uphold or thwart the improvement of digital advancement? Are governments putting resources into propelling digitalization? Are the regulations governing the digitalization process, or are they becoming hindrances?
Innovation and Change:
What is the condition of crucial development environment inputs (i.e., ability and capital), measures (i.e., joint efforts between universities and industry), and outputs (i.e., new, versatile digital products and services)?
If a country has a robust education system and supports new ideas, then digital growth will also be impressive. On the other hand, a flawed educational system cannot guarantee digital growth.
The scorecard takes all this data and then assesses economies with the country's digital place and pace of digitization growth over time.
Stand out Economies:
The economization with high digital growth levels and strong momentum towards future growth are Hong Kong, South Korea, and Singapore. These, along with others, are consistently top performers in digital development. The US stands second after Singapore in this race.
So how these countries managed to be at the top? This analysis suggests that these countries prioritized:
1. The expanding and adaptation of digital tools like E-commerce and digital payment systems.
2. Training and attracting digital talent from around the world.
3. We are supporting digital entrepreneurship.
4. Provide fast internet and digital infrastructure.
5. Increasing exports of digital products and services.
Break Out Economies:
These economies are portrayed with local existing digital infrastructure, however, which are quickly digitalizing. China is an essential anomaly in this gathering: Its advanced development is higher than that of any remaining economies because of its quickly developing interest and education system. Likewise, Indonesia and India are remarkable from this gathering, positioning third and fourth regardless of their economies. However, these mid-sized economies like Kenya, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Rwanda, and Argentina have all shown impressive digital advancement promising post-COVID-19 growth and future growth.