Benchmarking countries - IT Industry Competitiveness 2008 - Economist Intelligence Unit

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A new study from the Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), ranks the information technology (IT) industry environments of 66 countries on the extent to which they support a competitive domestic IT sector.

For the second time, the US ranks top of the index as the world’s most supportive environment for IT firms, notwithstanding its current macroeconomic problems. As an incubator of high-tech start-ups and technology innovation and as a developer of talent, the US remains a pace-setter. However, the gap is narrowing as IT industry environments in Europe and Asia—including in emerging markets—are becoming more competitive.

The index, now in its second year, finds the top 20 countries remain the same from one year ago; however nine countries moved up and 11 went down in the rankings. Three new economies have entered the top five: Taiwan, Sweden, and Denmark.

1. United States - 74.6
2. Taiwan - 69.2
3. United Kingdom - 67.2
4. Sweden - 66.0
5. Denmark - 65.2
6. Canada - 64.4
7. Australia - 64.1
8. South Korea - 64.1
9. Singapore - 63.4
10. Netherlands - 62.7
11. Switzerland - 62.3
12. Japan - 62.2
13. Finland - 61.5
14. Norway - 59.7
15. Ireland - 59.4
16. Israel - 56.7