On my America West flight to California, I picked up a copy of Technology Review's April 2005 issue and found a neat set of articles about cutting-edge technology reseach in various countries: Brazil, Chile, China, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United States.

"We asked these writers to report on which emerging technologies are the most important for their nations' societies and economies, and to explain what makes these technolo­gies uniquely characteristic of their countries.... In all, our reporters identified more than two dozen emerging technologies or ideas about innovation as vital to the futures of these seven countries. But even those innovations that most directly address urgent regional needs prove to have application for the entire planet."

There's lots of neat stuff going on. Fortunately, these articles are all available online - and there are some interesting graphics measuring key global technology indicators as well.