Investment by United States organisations rose to $4.1 billion during the second quarter of 2007, demonstrating a growth of 10% of the second quarter of 2006. The market which benefited the most from this increase in investment was the software market, where $1.5 billion of the ventures was invested according to data from researchers Dow Jones VentureOne and Ernst & Young.

Another significant growth market was the information service sector (networking sites and other Web 2.0 facilities), where investment increased by 52% to $979 million according to data from researchers Dow Jones VentureOne and Ernst & Young.

Almost 80% of businesses surveyed feel that Web 2.0 technologies have the ability to benefit their organisation, new research has suggested.

The survey was undertaken by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The survey’s primary responsibility was to determine how much Web 2.0 technologies were being utilised by organisations throughout the world, and in total 406 senior executives from a range of industries partook in the survey.

The most compelling finding was that the biggest benefit could be seen in how customers could interact with the organization. Other findings implied that Web 2.0 technologies were already being in use in a number of ways in quite a number of the organizations.

Organization who wanted ways where customers could interact with the organization were focusing their attention in the development of online communities that could assist with product development and marketing.

Also the introduction of blogs and wikis were being used to initiate discussions and the sharing of knowledge.

“The EIU study confirms what we have heard from customers and partners that collaborative web 2.0 technologies are becoming more important to organizations,” said John M Lervik, Chief Executive of Fast, a software development company who were the principal sponsors of the survey.

“We expect to see a rapid acceleration in Web 2.0 adoption as business leaders recognise the value of community-sourced information made accessible and actionable via search technology.”

Almost 60% of the executives surveyed indicated that their organization invites or planned to within a 2 tear timeframe to invite consumers to contribute content that enhances their organization products.

Dan Armstrong, editor of the report stated that the EIU were “surprised at the level of excitement among big firms concerning the commercial possibilities presented by web 2.0”.

“Our survey respondents and interviewees saw Web 2.0 as an opportunity, not a threat, and were extremely creative in applying the idea of the collaborative network to their own products and processes.” Dan concluded.