Recession or no, when it comes to running a tech company the U.S. is still the best place to do business, according to a new study released on Sept. 17 by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Commissioned by the Business Software Alliance, a trade organization that represents the software industry, the study analyzes data on 66 countries around the world to determine which have the most competitive information technology sectors. Now in its third year, it examines such variables as a country’s overall business climate; the pervasiveness of its tech infrastructure; the strength and transparency of its legal system; and the availability of a workforce that is both well-educated and technologically literate.
Home to some of the world’s most recognizable tech companies, such as IBM, Oracle, Intel, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Google, the U.S. has topped the survey every year, but the country’s predominance is vulnerable in key ways. “We see a number of factors where the U.S. is not in the lead,” says Robert Holeyman, CEO of the BSA.
For instance, in the all-important research and development category, which accounts for 25 percent of a nation’s score, the U.S. ranks fifth, well behind Canada, which led that category, as well as Singapore and Israel.
Finland Soars in the Rankings
Finland was notable for its second-place showing, displacing last year’s runner-up, Taiwan. The Nordic nation of 5.3 million is also the home of wireless-phone giant Nokia. It rose to second from 13th last year, in part because of a change in the study’s methodology. This year the study’s authors used data from the European Patent Office showing the actual number of patents applied for and granted within each country per 100 people. Last year the study’s authors relied on estimates of the number of IT-related patents granted within a country. That, coupled with strong public and private…