Finland has largest share of economy based on ICT

Finlandleads the world in the share of its economy based on the production of goods and services related to information and communication technology (ICT), according to the latest United Nations statistics. Nearly ten percent of the country’s non-agricultural business workforce is employed in the ICT sector. The data was released by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva.

Finlandbecame one of the most technology-intensive economies in the world in the 1990s. The main boost for this development came from Nokia though Finnish technology policy had already started to move towards information technology in the 1980s when the government established the Science and Technology Policy Council of Finland and Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation. Although the contribution from Nokia to GDP growth has shrunk, the ICT sector has kept its powerful role in the Finnish economy. Last year, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s IT Industry Competitiveness Index ranked Finland the world’s second most competitive country in information technology after the United States.

Source: http://www.goodnewsfinland.com/, 17 Feburary 2012