IMD releases 2026 World Digital and AI Competitiveness Ranking; South Korea climbs 8 spots overall; trails only US, Canada and China among larger nations

Graduate students in science and engineering conduct research. [Herald DB]
Graduate students in science and engineering conduct research. [Herald DB]

South Korea ranked 10th out of 70 countries in digital and AI competitiveness, climbing eight places from the previous year, according to a new international assessment.

Among the 32 countries with populations of at least 20 million, South Korea placed fourth, behind the United States, Canada and China.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced Wednesday that South Korea achieved those rankings in the 2026 World Digital and AI Competitiveness Ranking (WDAIR), released by the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD).

Starting this year, IMD revamped its evaluation framework and renamed the index from the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking (WDCR) to the World Digital and AI Competitiveness Ranking.

Among individual countries, the United States, which ranked fourth last year, claimed the top spot. Canada, last year's No. 1, fell to fifth.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore ranked second, China seventh and Japan 19th. South Korea placed 10th overall and fourth among the 32 nations with populations exceeding 20 million, behind the US, Canada and China.

South Korea improved its ranking year-on-year across all five evaluated categories: governance, technology infrastructure, efficiency, talent development and value behavior.

In governance, South Korea rose from 34th to 27th among the 70 countries. Technology infrastructure climbed from 7th to 3rd, and efficiency rose from 13th to 3rd. Talent development improved from 24th to 20th, while value behavior advanced from 19th to 16th.

In governance particularly, South Korea ranked first in the newly introduced government core systems index. The country also moved up in public-private cooperation supporting technology development, which rose from 59th to 35th, and in legislated AI policy, which improved from 32nd to 30th.

Bae Kyung-hoon, deputy prime minister and minister of science and ICT. [Ministry of Science and ICT]
Bae Kyung-hoon, deputy prime minister and minister of science and ICT. [Ministry of Science and ICT]

In technology infrastructure, South Korea maintained its first-place ranking in total research and development spending as a share of GDP. The country ranked eighth in AI research papers, while its ease-of-access-to-venture-capital indicator improved from 46th to 35th.

In efficiency, South Korea ranked eighth in the newly introduced AI adoption index, 18th in national AI strategy implementation (also new) and 20th in corporate agility.

In talent development, South Korea placed eighth in the newly introduced AI readiness index and 12th in the AI education index, another new indicator. Its ranking for attracting highly skilled foreign talent rose from 61st to 44th.

In value behavior, South Korea ranked 10th in public trust in AI (new), 25th in corporate understanding of AI security risks (new) and 26th in flexibility and adaptability to new challenges.

Lee Do-gyu, director general for information and communications policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said the government would "continue to push ahead with key policies without disruption to steadily improve digital and AI competitiveness."

Meanwhile, the government announced three mega-projects last June to strengthen competitiveness in digital and AI, outlining plans to build AI data centers with a combined capacity of 18.4 GW by 2035. It is also pursuing the seven SEED projects, which designate small modular reactors, nuclear fusion, renewable energy, quantum technology, aerospace, advanced biotech and advanced supply chains as future growth engines.


sjpark@heraldcorp.com