The World Cup: Around the world in IT

Australia

Australia flag

Population: 22.3 million

Climate: Variable

Economy: GDP is $1 trillion. Ranked as the 21st biggest importer of goods and 23rd largest exporter worldwide.

Government: Democratic, current Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

Famous for: Boomerangs, kangaroos, koalas, Uluru (Ayre's rock), soaps (Neighbours, Home and Away et al)

Star player: Telstra

Top IT industry: Green Country is aiming to have 100 per cent renewable energy in the next 10 years thanks to advances in technology.

Major IT contributions: Birth of electronic pacemaker and bionic ear. What's more, multi-pathing that enabled wireless connections to truly take off properly was developed by Dr John O'Sullivan's Australian team at the CSIRO.

Germany

Germany flag

Population: 82 million

Climate: Moderate

Economy: GDP is $3.65 trillion.

Government: Federal parliamentary republic, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Famous for: Berlin Wall, car making

Star player: Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, SAP

Top IT industry: Largest maker of solar tech and wind turbines, worldwide.

Major IT contributions: Key role in MP3 development. Encoding of the MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2 started in Germany. The automated chip card was also developed by German scientists.

Ghana

Ghana flag

Population: 23.3 million

Climate: Tropical

Economy: GDP is $16.7 billion. Major foreign exchange and export activity in cocoa, diamonds, gold, timber and other areas.

Government: A presidential representative democratic republic. His Excellency John Atta Mills is president and is head of state and government.

Famous for: Textiles, in particular the Kente cloth. Gained independence from Great Britain in 1957.

Star player: theSOFTtribe Limited (SOFT)

Top IT industry: Software development, ambitions to excel in outsourcing too.

Serbia

Serbia flag

Population: 7.3 million

Climate: Varied

Economy: GDP is $50.1 billion.

Government: Headed by Mirko Cvetkovi.

Famous for: Certain wines,

Star player: Telekom Srbija and Telenor

Top IT industry: Communications more mobiles than people and just under 90 per cent of population have fixed line telephones.

Major IT contributions: Nikola Tesla who invented many things in the field of mechanical and electrical engineering was Serbian.

ITPro

ITPro is a global business technology website providing the latest news, analysis, and business insight for IT decision-makers. Whether it's cyber security, cloud computing, IT infrastructure, or business strategy, we aim to equip leaders with the data they need to make informed IT investments.

For regular updates delivered to your inbox and social feeds, be sure to sign up to our daily newsletter and follow on us LinkedIn and Twitter.