The US has lost its position as the world’s primary engine of technology innovation, according to a report by the World Economic Forum.

The US is now ranked seventh in the body’s league table measuring the impact of technology on the development of nations.

A deterioration of the political and regulatory environment in the US prompted the fall, the report said.

The top spot went for the first time to Denmark, followed by Sweden.

BBC NEWS | Business | US ‘no longer technology king’

The move is mostly unsurprising and long overdue. The US has been slipping across the board. The adoption of mobile technology has been notably slow and drawn out – 3G networks have yet to be rolled out despite the popularity of BlackBerrys and other mobile technology.

And while years-old technologies like broadband are much more affordable in the US than say, in Qatar, and more readily available than in perhaps India, the US is hardly a world leader, and in some respects, it may not have learned that yet.