Kuwait’s digital moment: Building confidence, powering progress
By Dr Hajar El Haddaoui
In Salmiya, a young entrepreneur runs a small delivery business from her phone. Orders, payments, and inventory updates all happen in real time. Five years ago, she relied on paper receipts and long trips to suppliers. Today, her company is fully digital – and growing. Her story reflects a wider shift in Kuwait: connectivity has become confidence. Kuwait stands at a decisive point in its digital transformation. The country has achieved near-universal internet access and world-class mobile-broadband reliability and affordability. Yet as the new Digital Economy Navigator 2025 shows, the real test is not how many are connected, but how confidently people use those connections.
From connection to confidence
According to the Navigator, Kuwait is among the Gulf’s top performers in digital infrastructure, with almost all the population online and broadband affordability among the world’s highest. Government services, from licensing to tax payments, are increasingly digital. There have also been improvements in access to online banking services, with Kuwait achieving a frontier score of 83.9 out of 100 in this area. These are hallmarks of a mature networked economy. But access is only the foundation. Roughly 40 percent of connected users across the 80 countries assessed in the DEN 2025 made no digital transactions last year.
The gap lies not in technology but in trust: how safe, capable, and included people feel online. Building trust as infrastructure Kuwait has started to treat digital trust as a form of national infrastructure. New frameworks on cybersecurity, data protection, and digital ID are being introduced, and public confidence in e-government systems is rising. These efforts echo the global pattern the Navigator highlights, countries that combine secure regulation with inclusive design see the fastest gains in participation and productivity. Moreover, holding the presidency of the Digital Cooperation Organization this year has shown Kuwait to be a capable driver of multilateral cooperation. Collaboration on the AI front has been meaningful, with key support for initiatives promoting ethical AI.
Skills, innovation, sustainability
Three priorities now define Kuwait’s next stage of progress. Firstly, skills. Basic digital literacy is strong, but demand for advanced expertise in AI, data science, and cybersecurity is growing faster than supply. The Navigator finds that economies pairing infrastructure with sustained human-capital investment achieve more resilient growth. Kuwait can lead here by continuing to expand technical training and closing the gender gap in advanced Information and Communication Technology education. Secondly, innovation. Start-ups in fintech, logistics, and creative industries are emerging, supported by the National Fund for SME Development and new venture partnerships. Yet innovation metrics such as R&D intensity and patent activity still demonstrate an opportunity for growth. Deepening collaboration between universities and business would help transform Kuwait from a user of digital tools to a creator of digital solutions.
Confidential
Thirdly, sustainability. As data-centre capacity and cloud adoption expand, energy demand will rise. The Navigator’s Digital for Sustainability pillar shows how aligning digital growth with renewable-energy investment enhances resilience. Kuwait’s emerging clean-energy initiatives are promising steps toward a greener digital economy that can provide a benchmark for others. A measured path to leadership Kuwait’s progress is steady, demonstrating a model built on reliability, not rhetoric. Vision 2035 anchors digital transformation within the country’s broader diversification agenda.
The foundations are solid: infrastructure that works, regulation that evolves, and a generation eager to create. The next challenge is cultural as much as technical: ensuring every citizen feels confident to participate and innovate online. Digital leadership will be defined not only by speed or scale, but by the trust a society builds in its own systems. Kuwait has shown that small states can make large digital strides. The networks are in place; the confidence is growing. What comes next will determine not just how connected Kuwait becomes, but how empowered its people feel once they log on.
Note: Dr Hajar El Haddaoui is the Director-General of the DCO with 20+ years of experience in digital transformation, innovation policy, and global technology leadership