What is the innovation competitiveness of the software industry in major countries?

Abstract The Fourth Industrial Revolution has impressed upon us the importance of software competitiveness as a factor of national competitiveness. Major countries around the world have fostered the software industry for a long time, and the development characteristics of the software industry were expected to differ from country to country. Thus, the competitiveness of software industry in major countries was divided by filed and era, and the technical efficiency of the software industry was examined. First, we categorize the industry into two sub-fields and two time periods with 10-year increments. Within-group efficiency was analyzed through Stochastic Frontier Analysis, and between-group efficiency through Meta-Frontier Analysis. In the field of computer system design and related services (NAICS 5415), the technical gap and technical efficiency in the UK were the highest. In the field of software development and supply (NAICS 511210), competition across global countries was fierce. Further, South Korea and China showed a wide technology gap, while France and the U.S. showed high technical efficiency. Through this study, we were able to successfully examine the technology gap and innovation results of the software industry according to country-specific differences in software policy and software industry ecosystem. These results will have important implications for software industry policymaking.