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  • In July 2015, President Obama signed an executive order to create the world’s most powerful

  • supercomputer. But despite a massive focus on technological development, the United States

  • is far from the most technologically advanced country. So, what ARE the most technologically

  • advanced countries?

  • Now, some studies list internet speed, or social media use as measures of advancement.

  • But technologically powerful countries are only possible through a combination of research,

  • development, scientific talent, and innovation. Luckily, CityLab created a Global Technology

  • Index combining all of these metrics.

  • First on the list is Finland. Finland happens to be the birthplace of one of the largest

  • mobile phone producers and innovators, Nokia. But more importantly, they also spend 3 and

  • a half percent of their GDP on technological research and development. This amounts to

  • nearly 10 billion dollars a year. By comparison this is the same percentage that the United

  • States spends on their military. Finland also has the highest number of scientific and engineering

  • researchers per capita, along with one of the best educational systems in the world.

  • Their advancements in biotechnology and clean energy speak to the importance of tech in

  • shaping our actual, everyday lives.

  • Next on the list is Japan. Japan is well known for its contributions to the technological

  • revolution. Much of this success can be attributed to government allocation and investment during

  • the mid to late 20th century. Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry involved

  • Japan in early semiconductor development, while keeping foreign competition away and

  • exchange rates low. This put them ahead of the rest of the world, and resulted in a long

  • reign of dominating semiconductor and microcontroller sales. Today, Japan is one of the leading

  • tech innovators, with the second highest number of patents per capita.

  • In third place is the United States. While the US is first in patents per capita, it

  • is better known for hosting the world’s biggest tech companies. 8 of the top 12 by

  • revenue are based in the US, with a COMBINED revenue nearing a trillion dollars. Nearly

  • all 20th century, world-changing tech developments, like nuclear energy, integrated circuitry,

  • even the internet itself, were developed through US defense spending. But despite accounting

  • for a third of the entire world’s technology budget, there are a number of reasons the

  • US doesn’t take home the gold. First and foremost is the monopolistic lack of internet

  • access and speed due to under regulation of internet service providers. The US also falls

  • way behind in science and technology education, ranking average and below average compared

  • to other OECD countries. Most importantly, however, the US has massively reallocated

  • their military budget away from science and tech research. That money instead goes towards

  • expenditures like the department of homeland security.

  • It is clear that today’s tech landscape is rapidly changing. New technologies are

  • springing up all over the world, and the entry barrier is as low as it has ever been. It

  • will certainly be interesting to see which countries will come to dominate the technologically

  • advanced future.

  • Finland might be the most technologically advanced country - but it doesn’t have the

  • fastest internet. To learn which country has the best connection, check out our video now.

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In July 2015, President Obama signed an executive order to create the world’s most powerful

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