Luxembourg is losing digital competitiveness
Galina Nelyubova, Unsplash
In the latest World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2024, Luxembourg showed mixed results. Despite scoring highly in certain areas, such as e-government (3rd place in the EU), the country lost ground in a number of key indicators.
The ranking assesses 67 countries in three main areas: knowledge, technology and readiness for the future. For Luxembourg, challenges are identified in these aspects:
- Knowledge: limited number of graduates in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, maths) and low inflow of international students.
- Technology: weak investment in telecoms and limited use of venture capital.
- Future readiness: low flexibility of business and society to change, insufficient use of big data.
As the government notes, the rankings do not always objectively reflect the real state of affairs. For example, national achievements in cybersecurity and computing power, such as the Meluxina supercomputer and plans to build a quantum computer, are not taken into account. In addition, some of the indicators are based on surveys with small samples, which reduces the reliability for Luxembourg.
The government is actively developing digital infrastructure and technology:
- Implementation of new e-governance systems, including the Data Reuse Bill.
- Development of high-performance computing with investments in supercomputers, including Meluxina-AI for artificial intelligence and Meluxina-Q for quantum computing.
- Focus on trusted digital economy and cybersecurity as part of the European Digital Decade strategy.
Luxembourg continues to establish itself as Europe's leading digital hub, combining advanced technology with a strategic approach to data management. However, the country will need to address the issues of educational attainment, investment attraction and business agility to improve its position in global rankings.
