By Mark Scott

Harnessing IT to Drive Growth

If the 20th century was the era of industrial corporations, the 21st looks to be dominated by technology giants. Consider the extraordinary rise of such companies as Facebook, Skype, and Baidu that didn't even exist a decade ago, and the ongoing success of such long-standing leaders as Apple that have continually reinvented themselves to remain at the forefront of technology.

The growing importance of technology has big repercussions for economics and the wealth of nations. Every year the Geneva-based World Economic Forum studies the technological prowess of countries to assess how prepared they are for the changing business landscape. This year's ninth annual Global Information Technology Report measures hundreds of factors—from government regulation to private-sector innovation to consumer interest in technology—to rank the "tech-readiness" of countries.

Within the overall ranking, countries are rated on environmental factors (government and private-sector support for new trends), readiness (countries' preparedness for IT changes), and usage (how local businesses and consumers are using technology).

Click on to see where countries finished in the 2010 rankings. We've included the top 10 and a selection of lower-ranked countries of interest.