Hong Kong trails behind Singapore in technological readiness

Poor R&D dragged the city to 10th place whilst Singapore snagged the crown.

Hong Kong trails behind close regional rival Singapore in technological readiness as it plopped to 10th place amidst protracted weakness in research and development, according to a report from The Economist Intelligence Unit. 

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Singapore snagged the top spot, which it shares with Australia and Sweden, who have sustained government investments in R&D to thank for their dominance.

“Hong Kong ranks lower than Singapore, largely because of its persistent weakness in R&D,” Duncan Innes-Ker, Asia regional director at the EIU was cited in an article from the South China Morning Post. “R&D these days tends to be closely associated with hi-tech manufacturing, and there is little of this in Hong Kong.”

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However, Hong Kong is set to move up the rankings in the next five years, as the government steadily ramps up R&D initiatives to boost productivity and benefits from enhanced integration brought about by the Greater Bay Area project.

“Technological change is inescapable, and how well prepared governments, businesses and individuals are for disruption is increasingly important,” said Emily Mansfield, country forecast director at the EIU.

The US and France have also broken into the top ten for 2018-22 amidst improvements in internet access and innovation whilst Libya and Angola retained the lowest positions. Netherlands also emerged as the best for e-commerce whilst Taiwan scored the top spot for cyber security.

The EIU report goes over 82 business environments based on three key elements including access to the Internet, the digital economy infrastructure, and openness to innovation.

Photo from WiNG - Own work, CC BY 3.0