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The US has lost its position as the world's primary engine of technology innovation, according to a report by the World Economic Forum. The US is now ranked seventh in the body's league table measuring the impact of technology on the development of nations.The top spot went for the first time to Denmark, followed by Sweden.
Countries were judged on the integration of technology in business, the infrastructure available, government policy favourable for fostering a culture of innovation and progress and leadership in promoting the usage of the latest information technology tools.
Denmark is now regarded as the world leader in technological advancement, with its Nordic neighbours Sweden, Finland and Norway claiming second, fourth and 10th place respectively.
From the BBC [news.bbc.co.uk].
Syzygy
As long as it isn't China...
Japan was never much of an innovator, just great at reducing the size of technology. When VCRs were all the rage I remember people talking about how much money the U.S. was losing by allowing Japan to take the lead in VCR production.
The real money wasn't in VCRs though, it was in the stuff that played on VCRs. ; ) people would buy A VCR once every two or three years. But they buy lots of movies. Same deal with DVDs.
>>measuring the impact of technology on the development of nations
Impact of what though? Or do they just mean bleeding edge adoption rates?
All this time I thought Japan was number one
Hahaha. I was quite shocked to arrive at my new school workplace in Japan in 1998 only to find out there was one computer room, it was only accessible from the staff room (ie. the kids couldn't access it) and very few of the teachers ever went in there either.
Then there were the ATMs which didn't operate from 21:00 in the evening until 09:00 the next morning. And the absence of central heating in the houses.
Large parts of Japan it seems have never particularly quick to adopt new technology. I'm sure it was useful during the cold war to keep telling the US population that the Soviet Union was more militarily powerful and Japan more technologically advanced than the USA, but neither was the case.
Denmark is now regarded as the world leader in technological advancement
How much does that have to do with Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis?
[weforum.org...]
canada just missed the top 10, ah well
As always, we need to cut California out into it's own country.
Home rule for California? :)
Wee Alex Salmond can give you some tips on getting this off the ground. ;)
"Denmark, in particular, has benefited from the very effective government e-leadership, reflected in early liberalisation of the telecommunications sector, a first-rate regulatory environment and large availability of e-government services,"
I wonder what background criteria was used to make this determination? Reading between the lines of the article, it seems that government integration, involvement and regulation was given much weight.
Yeah....It isn't about who has the greatest minds!
It is about who has the best people to turn those ideas into money!
The UK has had the greatest minds for several hundreds of years IMHO......but, what a botched job they have done with turning that ability into power and money!
In the meantime the USA and Japan have been at best mediocre in terms of ideas, but truly great at capitalizing on the concepts of others.
Follow the money, not the ideas! Those who make the money get my respect.....even if they stole the ideas from someone else!
