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Losing its Lead

Entry 505, on 2007-03-29 at 19:04:20 (Rating 3, News)

According to a recent report by the World Economic Forum, the US has lost its place as the leading technology innovator in the world. Many people have expected this sort of a result because of the current administration's ignorant attitude to science, the president's support for creationism, their policy of inhibiting stem cell research, etc.

I'm not sure what the exact methodology used in the study was, and I must admit that I am somewhat skeptical of its findings. From my perspective, the US still appears to be leader in technological innovation and scientific research, but I am only a casual observer.

The new order is: Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the US, Iceland, the UK, and Norway. How can Iceland be just one place behind the US? Of all the technology news I read and tech podcasts I listen to, I can't recall a single item coming from Iceland. As I said, it would be interesting to see the methodology.

If tech and science leadership is moving to Europe it might be a good thing though. The US can be captured by a president or party (like the current one) with ties to organisations like the Christian right. In Europe there are enough independent governments to avoid the whole area being taken down one track, and fundamentalist religion isn't as strong.

So maybe this is a sign of the imminent demise of the US as the single world super-power. Or maybe its a glitch which will be corrected when Bush is finally gone. Maybe Europe will be the new center for innovation, or maybe it will be China or India. Its really hard to know and I must admit I don't think this study necessarily contributes a lot to seeing what's really happening.

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