Last year's position :   6

Love him or hate him, it is impossible to discount the effect William H Gates III has had on the technology industry since dropping out of Harvard and founding Microsoft in 1975.

Gates' inclusion as one of only a handful of Agenda Setter ever-presents is entirely justified, because you take your eyes off developments in Redmond at your peril.

The anti-trust wranglings of past years are now very much in Gates' rearview mirror and the Road Ahead appears to be beset only with obstacles created by his own desire to conquer ever-trickier markets. Gates' ambition shows no signs of waning as he nears 50 and Microsoft's vision now extends way beyond the desktop.

The drive to push mobile technologies, such as the Smartphone and the Tablet PC OS, is representative of the company's insistence on being a player in every emerging market. Many pundits have identified the mobile sector as a market too far for Microsoft but, even then, all eyes will be on how Gates handles any failure and bounces back.

Other brave new worlds which Gates is steering his company into include areas of desktop software previously uncharted, such as anti-virus, where Microsoft is undoubtedly about to steal a large slice of the consumer pie.

And then there's China. Just as people were starting to wonder where Gates could turn to earn his next $20bn, he has effectively been handed more than a billion new customers. When China started to open up to Western companies it was Microsoft who was first in the queue to cross the border, though recent developments mean Microsoft will have to see off open source.

More than anybody else, Gates continues to push the idea of technology as a fundamental part of our existence and, as the richest man in the world, he carries the political clout to ensure the world's power brokers share his vision.