Forrester: Europe lags behind US and Asia in tech spend

Region set for a 'moderate' rise in spending across all tech categories

European tech spending is still lagging behind the US and Asia Pacific, but is on track for growth, analyst Forrester has claimed.

According to new Forrester forecast data, all categories of the 2011 European tech market will rise moderately by 3.8 per cent to a total of €553bn (£492bn), compared with €738bn (£656bn) in the US and €675bn (£600bn) in Asia Pacific.

Growth will be led by software spending, IT consulting and systems integration services, said Forrester, with the outlook for 2012 improving as software purchases are again set to lead the tech market with a predicted 9.8 per cent growth.

Analyst Andrew Bartels noted that "variations in economic growth and subpar performance in euro zone countries" have fragmented the European ICT market into a mixture of fast-growing countries in the north and east, moderately growing middle countries, and slow-growing or even declining in the south.

Germany, UK and France are leading Europe in IT spending. Together, they represent 50 per cent of the European ICT market, with Germany at the top of the table with €99bn (£88bn).

The UK ranks second at €92bn (£82bn), though the UK economy is considerably smaller than Germany's. The report also reveals that Greece purchases €8bn (£7bn) of ICT, Portugal €6bn (£5.3bn), Ireland €3bn (£2.6bn), and Iceland sits near the bottom of the table at €0.5bn (£0.4bn).

Broken down by market sectors, the report also reveals the Nordic countries and Benelux outrank France in computer equipment, and Spain is the largest European market for communications equipment.

France also hosts the largest market for software, whereas Germany and France are the largest buyers of IT consulting and systems integration services.

The UK still retains its lead as the largest IT outsourcing market, claimed Forrester.