US, Sweden and Japan top info economy league

The UK is in joint fifth place, ahead of France and Germany

City of London is big IT user

The UK lags behind the US, Sweden, Japan and Canada in making effective use of IT to further economic development, says research published this week.

The Connectivity Scorecard, compiled twice yearly by consultancy LECG and the London Business School, takes into account factors such as broadband penetration rates, literacy rates, and the number of women compared with men that are using telecoms technology.

Rated out of 10, the US scored 6.97, Sweden 6.83, Japan 6.8, Canada 6.5, the UK and Finland 6.1, Germany 5.52 and France 5.07.