Cisco Study: Canada is a Global Leader in ‘Digital Readiness’ but Not All Canadians Benefit Equally

Cisco Digital Readiness Index shows that continued focus and investment in connectivity, skills, and cybersecurity needed to ensure no one is left behind

Canada ranks 17th out of 146 countries in Cisco’s Global Digital Readiness Index, which measures a country’s preparedness to capture the opportunities of a digital economy.
British Columbia ranked first in digital readiness, followed by Quebec and Ontario.
Continued investments in connectivity, skills and cybersecurity are critical to maintain and secure Canada’s digital leadership and support digital equity and inclusion.

Today, Cisco released the findings of the Cisco Canada Digital Readiness Index, a comprehensive study that measures Canada’s ability to capture the opportunities that digital capabilities and investments create. While Canada performed strongly on a global level, ranking 17th out of 146 countries, the Cisco Canada Digital Readiness Index revealed that there are significant discrepancies across provinces and territories.

The study focuses specifically on the performance of each of Canada’s provinces and territories, measuring data across seven components: Basic Needs, Human Capital, Business and Government Investment, Ease of Doing Business, Start-up Environment, Technology Adoption and Technology Infrastructure.

“The Digital Readiness Index looks beyond technology to help us understand Canada’s performance and get a holistic measure of our progress towards a digitally capable, equitable and inclusive society,” said Shannon Leininger, President, Cisco Canada. “Globally, Canada has a strong and consistent year-over-year performance, meaning that we are continuing to invest in areas that will help us advance and remain competitive. Together, the public and private sector should continue to work together to make digital readiness a priority and maximize the economic and social benefits for all Canadians.”

Improving Digital Readiness for all Canadians Must Be Top Priority

To maintain and secure Canada’s digital leadership and build a more digitally equitable and inclusive society, the Digital Readiness Index provides guidance on how Canada can improve overall readiness through continued investment in three key areas:

Improve connectivity to close opportunity gaps and ensure digital equity and inclusion.
Maximize Canada’s human capital advantage by investing in digital skills to build the most highly trained labour force.
Close the cybersecurity readiness gap and improve Canada’s security resilience.
“Digital readiness is not static. Canada’s path to digitization will require ongoing investment and focus to ensure the benefits of digital readiness are felt equally by all, especially those in Indigenous, rural and remote communities,” said Leininger. “If we do not address our domestic gaps, regions in Canada that perform at the lowest levels of digital readiness will fall further behind, decreasing Canada’s digital leadership position.”

Digital Readiness Scores by Province and Territory

While Canada’s global digital readiness score is strong, the provincial and territorial results indicate that progress varies across the country and not all Canadians have equal access to digital opportunities.

• British Columbia received the highest digital readiness score in Canada driven by its first-place ranking on Ease of Doing Business, Start-Up Environment and Technology Adoption.
• Quebec (2nd) and Ontario (3rd) followed closely behind with top scores in Business and Government Investment (1st and 2nd respectively), and strong scores in Technology Adoption and Technology Infrastructure.
• Alberta (4th), Prince Edward Island (5th) and Yukon (6th) all scored in the top five on Basic Needs and Ease of Doing Business. These regions also ranked in the top three for Human Capital due to strong labour force participation and a high youth population (AB and YK) and net migration (P.E.I. and YK).
• Nova Scotia (7th), Manitoba (8th) and New Brunswick (9th) fell just below the national average. NS and MB performed well in Ease of Doing Business due to low internal trade barriers, while NB ranked in the top five on Basic Needs due to positive housing affordability.
• Northwest Territories (10th), Saskatchewan (11th) and Newfoundland and Labrador (12th) fell below the average digital readiness score. Business and Government Investment and Human Capital scores were close to average for N.W.T. and SK, while NFLD had above average scores in Basic Needs, Business and Government Investment and Start-up Environment.
• Nunavut ranked the lowest in Canada, reinforcing the need for all levels of government to address Basic Needs of the population and build a solid and long-term foundation for digital readiness.

To view the full Canada report and/or individual provincial and territorial reports, visit the Cisco Canada Digital Readiness Index webpage.

Methodology

The Digital Readiness Index is a holistic model that looks at a total of 25 metrics across the seven components of digital readiness. Metric data are from reputable sources including Statistics Canada, CRTC, CMHC and more. The model uses a “z-score” methodology, measuring how many standard deviations above or below the mean of a particular metric/score. If a score is bel