Costa Rica ranks 62 out of 144 countries evaluated in the Global Competitiveness Index 2019, prepared by the World Economic Forum.
Like last year, the methodology focused on the fourth industrial revolution is used, and it tries to measure how prepared countries are to take advantage of the benefits and face the challenges of this revolution. In the region, Costa Rica is the fifth best evaluated country, below Chile, Mexico and Uruguay, which maintain leadership in Latin America.
Singapore ranked first this year, followed by the United States and Hong Kong. The United States loses its leadership and Hong Kong gains four positions.
The report highlights that some of the strengths of the country are the issues of infrastructure, health, skills and products, in which it ranks higher than the Latin American average.
Even so, the country faces considerable challenges to harness the potential of the fourth industrial revolution. One of the most critical areas is the adoption of ICT by having few subscriptions to optic fiber internet and fixed broadband. On the issue of ability to innovate we are lagging behind the best in the world due to the lack of recognition of research institutions and scientific publications.
Another critical points is the financial market due to the little financing given to SMEs, the availability of risk capital and the poor development of the capital market.
For Ronald Arce, Researcher at the Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development (CLACDS), the main challenge facing the country is the slowness with which we are facing the challenges of the 21st century. In the last three years the competitiveness index score has barely changed, however, we have lost positions because other countries are moving rapidly and we fail to adapt to the pace of the changes.
The fourth industrial revolution will create new relationships between human beings and technology, which affects the way we work, live and interact. This revolution has the potential for countries to skip stages of development, but it also makes the route less known. The ability to take advantage of the opportunities of the fourth industrial revolution requires having the “old” conditions of development: institutionality, infrastructure and skills.
This study, carried out with the support of the Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development of INCAE Business School, regional partner of the World Economic Forum since 1996, makes an analysis of the set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of An economy
The qualifications of the 2019 report were built based on national statistics and international organizations, and on the Executive Opinion Survey of the World Economic Forum that is carried out to more than 14,000 entrepreneurs worldwide.