Is Your Economy Ready for AI in 2026? BCG’s AI Maturity Matrix (ASPIRE) Explained for Leaders and Investors

Which Countries Are Most Ready for AI Adoption and Growth? A Clear Guide to BCG’s AI Readiness Rankings​

BCG’s AI Maturity Matrix assesses 73 economies using the ASPIRE indicators—Ambition, Skills, Policy, Investment, Research, and Ecosystem—to show who’s ready for AI disruption and where the best adoption and growth opportunities are for executives, policymakers, and investors.

Keep reading to find out where your country fits (AI Pioneer to Emergent) and copy the exact ASPIRE checklist to benchmark readiness, prioritize policy moves, and spot AI-heavy sectors with the biggest upside—and risk.

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AI is rapidly reshaping economies, but some countries are better prepared than others to integrate and leverage its potential. Boston Consulting Group experts assess the AI readiness of 73 nations, providing a clear and well-illustrated analysis of where opportunities for AI adoption and growth are strongest. This informative guide offers valuable insights for executives and investors looking to navigate the evolving global AI landscape.

Take-Aways

• An economy’s ability to incorporate AI depends on several factors, including talent and funding.
• Only five nations are adequately prepared now to meet the AI challenge.
• Governments need to take initiatives that reflect their nation’s level of preparedness.

Summary

An economy’s ability to incorporate AI depends on several factors, including talent and funding.

AI will undoubtedly enhance productivity in industries that can use task automation and process optimization. However, it may upend businesses with more manual operations, such as manufacturing and agriculture. The sectoral impact of AI will be uneven, as will its effect on certain types of employment that may become obsolete. Yet AI can create opportunities that will partially neutralize job dislocation.

“Businesses that are scaling AI have boosted their revenues by 2.5 times compared to competitors. When scaled across an entire economy, such potential gains elevate AI to a pressing area for policymaking — both today and in the years ahead.”

Information and communications, along with financial and public services, retail, high-tech products like semiconductors, and auto and truck manufacturing, are the industries most susceptible to AI-induced changes. A self-reinforcing effect occurs as these sectors produce goods and services that other businesses use or sell, further boosting the potential for economic growth. Countries with a relatively high exposure to these industries — such as Luxembourg and Hong Kong, with their strong concentrations in financial and business services — face greater potential dislocation.

A nation’s readiness — that is, its economy’s ability to incorporate AI into critical functions — is a function of six indicators, whose acronym is ASPIRE:

• Ambition — whether a country has a stated approach to AI and a government body to steward it.
• Skills — the degree to which it has specialists and practitioners in the technology.
• Policy and regulation — the quality of a nation’s regulation and data governance, along with the level of its economic freedom and democracy.
• Investment — the funding available for AI, which includes venture capital and national spending on computer services.
• Research and innovation — its published research and the number of patents, top universities, and start-ups.
• Ecosystem — the infrastructure that supports AI, including per capita internet use, electricity costs, and the quality of communication frameworks.

Only five nations are adequately prepared now to meet the AI challenge.

An analysis of diverse data sources categorizes some 73 countries along a continuum of AI readiness:

• “AI Pioneers” — Canada, Mainland China, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States boast strong ecosystems, robust investment, and solid talent drawn from universities and major firms. They set the standards for regulations and ethics.
• “Steady Contenders” — Many of these nations are highly exposed to AI-heavy sectors, like financial services, and they are keeping pace with tech development. Germany and Malaysia fall into this category.
• “Rising Contenders”—These, mostly industrial or natural-resource economies, may be less exposed to AI today but are committed to adopting it. India, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia are prime examples.
• “Gradual Practitioners” — Upper and lower-middle-income economies are adopting AI at a slower pace because AI is not as critical for sectors like tourism and agriculture. But Qatar is at the vanguard of innovation in AI use in its petroleum sector.
• “Exposed Practitioners” — These less-prepared economies are subject to AI dislocations, but, for example, Malta is attracting tech firms for its work in blockchain, and Cyprus is training workers in applications for tourism and financial services.
• “Emergents” — These economies are just at the start of AI adoption. They need to look to foreign investment, as Nigeria did in becoming Africa’s center of fintech.

Governments need to take initiatives that reflect their nation’s level of preparedness.

For the AI Pioneers, amplifying the technology remains critical — supporting AI businesses, enhancing expertise and specialization, and promoting R&D. Contenders and Practitioners must deepen their talent bases and create environments that encourage start-ups. Their ability to attract foreign direct investment will be essential to sustaining progress.

“A key place for public sector leaders to start is to understand their economy’s level of exposure to AI by sector. Exposure can lead to positive or negative impacts; for example, in terms of jobs, exposure could lead to displacement or create new employment opportunities throughout a sector.”

The Emergents must drive AI adoption, upskill their workforces, boost R&D and educational investment, and build the necessary infrastructure. These economies will face a much steeper learning and adoption curve.

About the Author

Christian Schwaerzler et al. are professionals with Boston Consulting Group.