These economies are the most tech savvy

Luxembourg is the world’s most “technologically ready” country – a measure of how economies can adopt technology to enhance productivity, a key foundation of economic growth and stability.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Competiveness Report 2015-16 assesses 140 economies on various measures of technological readiness – including the availability of latest technologies, firm-level technology absorption, foreign direct investment, and technology transfer and internet access – to produce a global ranking.

Following Luxembourg in joint second place are Switzerland and the United Kingdom, both returning a score of 6.3. Switzerland has risen from 10th place last year to join the UK in second.

Luxembourg’s position at the top is in part due to its high levels of internet access. The report argues that the capacity to fully leverage information and communication technologies enables increased efficiency and innovation.

European economies dominate the top 10, with Sweden in fourth, Iceland in sixth and Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Ireland in joint seventh. Singapore and Hong Kong complete the list.

Although the United States is a world leader in new technologies, it does not feature in the top 10. This is because the technological-readiness measurement assesses how well economies adopt existing technologies to enhance the productivity of their industries, not whether the technologies were developed in those countries.

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Author: Joe Myers is a Digital Content Producer at Formative Content. 

Image: People use computers at an Internet cafe. REUTERS/Stringer