Generation Net ready to switch up

THERE'S a major disconnect between our list of the 50 most influential people in IT and the 20 to watch in future years.

THERE'S a big disconnect between our list of the 50 most influential people in IT and the 20 to watch in future.

 While most of our top 50 cut their teeth in the arcane world of 1970s and 80s IT -- think minis, mainframes, deskbound PCs and the birth of personal productivity software such as Lotus 123 -- our 20 to watch grew up in an internet-connected world.

They are digital natives, right at home with social networks, mobile gadgets and working the global pipes in search of venture money, partnerships or just the right software developer.

They are more likely to make a bang in the IT universe with a cutting-edge mobile app or online service, crafted in the blink of an eye, than riding herd on the vast hectares of hardware and software that underpin a multinational, bank or airline.
Next-generation tech players such as Niki Scevak can hop a jet to Silicon Valley -- or hop an iPad and get there virtually -- and plug in to the fast-moving streams of capital, ideas and people that touch off the sort of wealth that a Bill Gates gets to swim in.

This is a very different world to the 80s, 90s and noughties. Away from the juicy US market, Australia struggled to establish a decent venture capital stream for ICT and tried many state and federal government schemes, and tax breaks, with mixed success.

But the internet has put many of the tech-nurturing networks just a tweet away, though they are on the far side of the world.

Those in our top-20 list have shown they can get on with developing, funding and commercialising technology whether there is taxpayer support or not. I look forward to the day they register on our top-50 list, probably sooner rather than later.