Hong Kong ranked 11th among 70 economies in the International Institute for Management Development’s 2026 World Digital and AI Ranking, and fourth in Asia-Pacific, down two places from the previous year.
The results show a marked contrast between skills and governance. Hong Kong came second for workforce development and fifth for efficiency, and ranked first worldwide in technological framework, practices, and education and training. But it was 50th for digital and AI governance, 49th for public leadership and 40th for cybersecurity and AI ethics.
The Office of the Government Economist said the new ranking replaces the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking and includes more AI-related measures. It assesses five factors through 15 sub-factors and 88 indicators.
The government said it would develop three major innovation and technology parks and five research and development institutions, and promote its AI Plus initiative. It also said it would expand computing infrastructure and speed up small and medium-sized businesses’ adoption of AI.
One project is the Data Facility Cluster at Sandy Ridge. The government expects it to be fully operational by 2032 or earlier, with computing capacity of 180,000 PFLOPS—36 times Hong Kong’s current capacity.