The end of an empire?
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US loses technology leadership. To Denmark.
It used to be the case that European leaders looked jealously across the Atlantic, envious of the US’s technology-driven economic boom. In 2000, European Union chiefs drew up the so-called Lisbon Agenda, in a direct attempt to challenge US technology hegemony, and recreate some of the tech-led productivity gains seen in North America.
Seven years on and that strategy may be bearing fruit. A recent report into IT by the World Economic Forum has found that the US now trails Denmark, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands in terms of technological prowess in the business world. A similar study last year had the US leading the pack.
In establishing rankings, the Global Information Technology Report examines how conducive the business and regulatory environment in each country is to the innovation and use of IT – precisely the two criteria that the Lisbon Agenda sought to improve.
However, the report’s authors note that the US has to take some of the blame for losing its pole position: the “relative deterioration of the political and regulatory environment” damaged its rating, despite having a strong lead in innovation, thanks to its educational institutions.
Meanwhile, Denmark “has benefited from a clear government ICT vision and early focus on ICT penetration and usage, which has resulted in impressive levels of Internet and PC usage as well as that of e-government and in a very dynamic e-business environment.”
Elsewhere, countries outside the EU, such as Singapore and Switzerland also fared well. The UK trailed slight behind the US in 9th place.
