Scientific and technological development is everywhere around us. To say that it has completely transformed our way of life would be an understatement. Majority of people are eager to adopt any new technology if it is useful in one way or another. Others who resist in the beginning, eventually give in to the slowly rising tide and go with the flow. Technological advances have a snowball effect as well. More advanced a country becomes the faster it can advance itself.
That said, there is a lot of disparity between different countries and technologies they are good at. If we use certain indicators as measures of scientific advancement, then it is possible to divide these countries into separate groups. These groups accurately reflect the perceived scientific and technological development of these countries. The indicators used for these analysis are: 1) Charges for the use of intellectual property, 2) Research and development expenditure, 3) Patent applications (non-residents), 4) Patent applications (residents), 5) Trademark applications (direct residents), 6) Researchers in R&D, 7) Technicians in R&D, and 8) High-technology exports.
Explore the interactive ‘Principal Component Analysis’ plots below to visualize these groups by yourself.
You can also use this link to connect to the interactive plot.