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Germany

Rank: 19
Last Year's Rank: 16
Score: 74.6

Germany ties with Switzerland for overall business environment, but lags in support for IT industry development; the nation fell three slots because of slower patent filings and sluggish R&D funding. Some of Europe's top tech companies, including software maker SAP (SAP) and phone-service provider Deutsche Telekom (DT), are headquartered here.

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