In April 2025, Geneva (Switzerland)-based United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released its latest ‘2025 Technology and Innovation Report’. As per the report, India ranked at 36th spot (in 2024) among 170 countries on the ‘Readiness for Frontier Technologies’ index, up from 48th spot secured in 2022.
- The index has combined key indicators for: Information and Communications Technology (ICT) deployment, skills, Research and Development (R&D) activity, industrial capacity, and access to finance.
- India rank on different parameters: ICT deployment (99th), skills (113th), R&D activity (3rd), industrial capacity (10th) and access to finance (70th)
About Frontier Technologies:
i.As per UNCTAD (2018), frontier technologies refer to those advanced an emerging technologies i.e. Artificial Intelligence (AI), green hydrogen, gene editing, among others, that have potential to transform and offer new opportunities for economic development, sustainability and governance.
ii.Frontier Technologies classified into 3 main categories: Industry frontier technologies (AI, big data, drone technology); green frontier technologies (biofuels, wind energy, electric vehicles)and other front technologies (nanotechnology and gene editing).
Top 5 countries: 2024 Readiness for Frontier Technologies Index
| Rank | Name of the Country |
|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America (USA) |
| 2 | Sweden |
| 3 | The Netherlands |
| 4 | Singapore |
| 5 | Switzerland |
| 36 | India |
Key Findings:
i. Among top 5 countries on the index, 4 are developed countries from Europe and North America: the United States of America (USA) (1st);Sweden (2nd); the Netherlands (3rd) and Switzerland (4th) except: Singapore (5th), the only country from Asia region.
ii.The report revealed that frontier technologies represented a USD 2.5 trillion market in 2023, of which the share of Internet of Things (IoT) was 36%, followed by other (34%), electric vehicles (15%), AI (7%) and Solar photovoltaic (7%).
- This figure is projected to increase 6-times, to USD 16.4 trillion in 2033, of which AI will represent 29%, followed by other (29%), IoT (19%), Block Chain Technology (14%), Electric Vehicles (9%).
iii.The report highlighted that countries like: Bhutan, India, Morocco, and Timor-Leste improved their rankings in human capital component due to more years of schooling and a greater share of high-skill employment in their working populations.
iv.The report underscored that among developing countries, Brazil, China, India and the Philippines have outperformed in technology readiness.
Key Findings Related to AI:
i.As per UNCTAD’s report, there were only two developing countries globally made significant private investments in AI in 2023, China (2nd spot) with USD 7.8 billion and India (10th) with investments worth USD 1.4 billion(Rs. 11,943 crore).
ii.The USA topped among all countries in terms of private investment in AI, with investments worth USD 67 billion were made in AI in 2023 (accounts 70% of global AI private investment).
iii.The report projected that AI is expected to touch USD 4.8 trillion in mark value by 2033. This will mark a 25-times increase in just 10 years.
iv.With regard to the top 10 economies in terms of cloud infrastructure services from major providers, China and USA are the countries that have more services compared to the rest of the world together.
- Among developing countries, India and Brazil featured on the list, along with Singapore.
v.As per the report, the USAÂ has the most GitHub, followed by India (13 million software developers) and China.
Key Concerns related to AI:
i.The report noted that only 100 global firms, mainly from USA and China account for 40% of global corporate AI R&D spending. This reflects access to AI infrastructure and expertise mainly concentrated in a few countries.
ii.The report further highlighted that the use of AI has the potential to impact 40% of global employment; 33% (1/3rd) of jobs are vulnerable to AI automation in advanced economies; and nearly 27% have the potential for AI augmentation.
About United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD):
Secretary-General- Rebeca Grynspan
Headquarters- Geneva, Switzerland
Established- 1964
