 Uncertainty has eclipsed the world economy for a long time. The overshadowing sovereign debt crisis in Europe, the risk of a weak recovery in the United States, combined with the slowdown of economic growth in China and other emerging economies, has cast a cloud of doubt over the global economy. Within such uncertain times, a high level of competitiveness is the best strategy to ensure resilience and sustained prosperity. The Global Competitiveness Report seeks to explore and define the common factors and policies that create sustainable prosperity for economies. In other words, we're looking at their productive potential. The considered factors range from the basic to the more complex, political institutions and governance, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, as well as the quality of human resources are all taken into account. The country's labor market efficiency is examined, as well as financial and goods markets, and how well these factors are allocated within the economy. Innovation and the development of new technologies are also critical for more advanced economies, looking at the capacity to develop new products, improve business models, and enhance productivity. Switzerland remains highly competitive, topping the ranking for the fourth year running, with the Nordic and the Asian Tigers also performing strongly. Some Western European countries, like the Netherlands and Germany, also feature in the top 10. But Southern European countries such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, and particularly Greece, continue to struggle. The United States continues to lead the way in innovation. However, a number of weaknesses are chipping away at its competitiveness. The U.S. fiscal imbalances and continuing political deadlock over resolving these challenges means that the country falls two more places to seven. Its fourth year in decline. Russia and India have also weakened in recent years, while China and Brazil have emerged the stronger leaders among the BRICs, fortifying their rising importance in the global economy. For more than three decades, competitiveness is a key issue and indicator for future prosperity, and we've stayed in tune with the latest developments in thinking. In order to ensure rising prosperity in an uncertain future, we aim to integrate the concept of sustainability more comprehensively into our broader competitiveness research, capturing the extent to which countries are addressing social and environmental concerns. Sustainable competitiveness is a new concept and a potential solution to the ongoing global economic challenges we face, and that innovative thinking is detailed in this year's report. The Global Competitiveness Report is one of the leading tools for benchmarking competitiveness, both now and for the future.