Sweden may be better known for cars and couches than computers, but when it comes to access to broadband and cellular networks, it’s tops. The Scandinavian country leads the world in “technological readiness,” according to the World Economic Forum…
Nordic countries in general did well this year, with Iceland finishing second and Denmark fifth. Like Sweden, they benefit from government support of technology and a strong focus on education and innovation. Education is both a precondition and an enabler for leveraging technology, notes Irene Mia. Both countries improved their showing this year – Iceland climbing from No. 4, Denmark from No. 10…
Two Asian countries made the top 10: Hong Kong at No. 6 and South Korea at No. 7. In contrast to Switzerland, the Korean government champions information and communication technologies (ICT) and has heavily subsidized broadband construction, notes the WEF. Hong Kong’s rank – its highest ever – reflects its increasingly wired citizenry and government. It got a further boost from its business-friendly policies.Near the bottom: the United States, which scored well in ICT usage, but rated poorly on regulatory issues. After dominating the tech index for years, the U.S. dropped to No. 5 in 2006, No. 8 in 2007 and is currently No. 9.
Unlike the usual list of this type – constructed over coffee by an editor and three bored writers who need to fill white space – this annual effort is grounded in quantifiable parameters.
How much reality varies according to various estimates of the importance of “doing business” on a global scale. It’s a reasonable reflection of the state of communications in an information-dependent economy.
The U.S. is not the tech leader it once was. If something doesn’t change by the time the kids in school now are my age they may well be talking about when we were a super power the way I talk about when we went to the moon.
The hospital where this happened is Gov’t run & funded. This is the FUTURE of health care in this country.
Sorry, post dumped into wrong thread…
Should we still count Hong Kong as a country, even though England gave control back to China in 1999?
In other news, Sweden’s population to hit 9.2 million soon. ( http://www.scb.se/templates/tableOrChart____159278.asp )
Of that, it looks like approximately 50% of their population is in 3 counties.
Must be tough to get three counties so “wired for business”…
#5 – not as tough as getting through MVD in most states.
Finally, something good about Sweden. Now, back to repairing my Saab.
Last time I checked there are WAY over 8 or 9 countries so to say the US is “near the bottom” is at best an overstatement and at worst proof that the article was written in a way to make the US look bad.
Plus they seem to think our regulatory issues are what moves us down. That just means they don’t like our laws.
#4 is dead on. Hong Kong is part of China and should not be listed as a separate country.
deowll said
The U.S. is not the tech leader it once was. If something doesn’t change by the time the kids in school now are my age they may well be talking about when we were a super power the way I talk about when we went to the moon.
I guess that you’re still in the denial phase. We already ARE talking about “when we were a super power”.
Sigh…
Does your culture value education, science, intelligent government support of key industries?===you will be successful.
Does your culture not give a shit about education or science and only considers government a place for corporations to seek avoidance of their fair share of taxes?===yea, “you know.”