Growth is among the key factors to overcome the crisis. But the growth can be very different around the world: each country has its own economy, which is also connected to the global economy through a specific level of import/export.

The relationship between import and export in a country: this one is an indicator to watch in order to observe the global economic complexity.

The Atlas of Economic Complexity is an online tool that allows users to compose a detailed and visual narrative about countries and the products they exchange. The project has found a first embodiment in autumn 2011, as a result of a study led by a team of researchers from MIT and Harvard University (Usa): the book The Atlas of Economic Complexity can be downloaded here (full version: 85.7 MB).

Generally, the data refer to bilateral trade data for 1000 products in roughly 200 countries, from 1962 to present.

Today, there is also an app by the Observatory of Economic Complexity and the website of the Observatory is an open source platform built as a part of the lead developer, Alexander Simoes' Master's Thesis at the MIT Media Lab. All collaborators to the project are welcome.

Besides the version for the anglo-saxon world, are under development local languages versions for the countries: China, India, South Korea, Russia, Japan, Turkey, Israel, Italy, Germany, France, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and spanish-speaking countries, arabic-speaking countries.