In the 16th edition of the World Digital Government Rankings Survey 2021 by Japan’s Waseda University, Saudi Arabia has secured 23rd position as the best progressing country in the area of digital government.
The most recent survey of the 64-country index, issued by the Institute of Digital Government at Japan’s Waseda University in cooperation with the International Academy of CIO (IAC), has also awarded the Kingdom 30th rank in the general index and 11th among the countries of the Group of Twenty.
The annual digital government ranking measures the progress in government digital services, their tie to innovation and integration, contribution to enhancing the efficiency of administrative and financial work as well as the quality of life for beneficiaries, and their contributions to promoting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The report also lauded the efforts made by the government of Saudi Arabia in the field of community participation and digital legislation, in addition to setting up the Digital Government Authority.
The Digital Government Authority was established in a bid to further improve the digital performance of the Kingdom. The Authority seeks to issue regulations, policies, and standards that contribute to creating a regulatory environment, which enables reaching advanced levels of maturity in the government’s digital transformation. It also aims to support the efforts of the government agencies through developing plans, programs, indexes, and measurements related to the works of digital government and the digital market platform of the government.
The report also indicated that digital government services could provide effective solutions to societies in times of crisis, pointing out the solutions adopted by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic in the years 2020-2021.
