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    World Digital and AI Ranking

    Measuring the capacity and readiness of economies to adopt and explore digital technologies for economic and social transformation

    World Digital and AI Ranking

    Measuring the capacity and readiness of economies to adopt and explore digital technologies for economic and social transformation

    The ranking and our approach

    For almost a decade, the IMD World Competitiveness Center has measured how economies adopt and explore digital technologies. In 2026 we have rebuilt that work around a single question: how ready are countries and companies to use artificial intelligence productively, govern it responsibly and earn the trust of the people it affects? The new IMD World Digital and AI Ranking, which succeeds the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking, answers that question.

    A glowing AI cube held by a hand transforming customer data for business growth - IMD Business School
    US and its big tech lead IMD 2026 AI rankings
    US beats Singapore and the Netherlands for the top spot in national AI readiness. But 2026 rankings find national AI sophistication alone does not predict corporate AI leadership. 

    The United States has emerged as the world’s leading AI-ready economy while American companies dominate the ranks of global corporate AI leaders, according to two new rankings from IMD. The 2026 World Digital and AI Ranking puts Singapore and the Netherlands just after the US in the top three spots. In IMD’s separate 2026 AI Maturity Index of the world’s largest public companies, Nvidia retains first place, ahead of Alphabet, Microsoft, SoftBank Group, and Samsung Electronics.

    However, national digital and AI readiness is not necessarily an indicator of the maturity of companies headquartered there: some highly digitally ready and well-governed economies produce few corporate AI leaders, while companies based in lower-ranked economies can emerge among the world’s most mature AI companies. A related white paper, The new geography of AI power, examines the two rankings together and reveals a more complex picture.

    Continue reading the article . . .

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    2026 Report

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