The UK could see its economy boosted by $57 billion by the adoption of digital technologies in 2020, according to new Accenture research.
The findings came as part of a study that found the world’s top ten economies could add $1.36 trillion to their total economic output in 2020 if their ‘Digital Density’ was improved by ten points.
This tool uses a scorecard comprising 50 indicators to assess the extent to which digital technologies penetrate a country’s economy.
According to the analysis, the Netherlands currently ranks as having the highest digital density, followed by the USA, Sweden, South Korea, the UK and Finland.
A ten point improvement in digital density (based on a 100-point scale) over five years was shown to lift GDP growth rates by 0.25 percentage points in advanced economies and 0.5 percentage points in emerging economies.
The US could see a boost in GDP of $365 billion in 2020, while China could see a boost of $418 billion.
"As companies become more digitally enabled, so digital density should rank alongside access to natural resources, a good transportation system, and skilled people in their list of location criteria," said Bruno Berthon, managing director, Digital Strategy, Accenture Strategy.
"Being digitally competitive means applying new technologies to a range of performance areas, from sourcing labor and automating processes to creating new goods and services.
"The Accenture Digital Density Index’s 50 indicators show that being digital cannot depend on a handful of well-intentioned but narrow initiatives. Improving digital competitiveness requires a broad, interrelated, program of actions by governments and businesses."
