AGENDA SETTERS 2007 - WHO ARE THE DRIVING FORCES IN THE TECH INDUSTRY?

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Agenda Setters 2007

No. 10 - Viviane Reding

Viviane Reding

Viviane Reding, Euro Commissioner

Position: 10    Last year: Not ranked

Why? Cheaper mobile roaming

Agree with panel rating?

Too High Too Low

It's not often a politician makes it into the top 50, but according to the panel Viviane Reding wields plenty of power over the technology agenda - and not just in Europe.

As European commissioner for information society and media, the Luxembourger has a hand in pretty much every decision about technology legislation that takes place in Europe, whether it's to do with mobile TV standards, RFID regulation, opening up frequencies for wireless broadband or pushing electronic safety systems for cars.

This summer - to the joy of mobile users across Europe - she won her battle to force mobile operators to cut the charges for users roaming abroad - with SMS and data rates likely to be next in the firing line.

And it's not just the price cuts in Europe that have made her an Agenda Setter - the panel predicts that her victory could have a global impact. Access to broadband is another area where her decisions could have major consequences.

Not every decision is welcomed of course - for example, Reding earned the disapproval of ISPs earlier this year because of the way the dot-eu domain name registration was handled.

Most recently she weighed in on the tech skills crisis - warning that Europe is missing out on billions in investment because its workers lack IT skills.

And the panel was impressed by the way she has driven the e-inclusion agenda across Europe."I think people are now taking her and that agenda really quite seriously," said one panel member.

Closest Rivals

  1. Ashley Highfield, BBC technologist
  2. Nicholas Negroponte, laptop creator
  3. Niklas Zennström, Skype CEO
  4. Diane Greene, VMware president
  5. Jonathan Ive, Apple chief designer
  6. Viviane Reding, Euro Commissioner
  7. Paul Coby, BA CIO
  8. Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com CEO
  9. Emily Bell, Guardian Unlimited editor
  10. Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO
  11. Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO

  1. Zones
  2. Management
  3. Networks
  4. Software
  5. IT Services
  6. Hardware
  1. Verticals
  2. Public Sector
  3. Financial Services
  4. Retail & Leisure
Agenda Setters Past

Take a walk down memory lane - and find out who made the Agenda Setters poll in years past:

Quotable

"Blogging's definitely got to the point where there're enough mainstream consumers watching it for the top bloggers to be regarded as agenda setters."
Michael Smith,
Agenda Setters panellist

"Open source gets more important rather than being something that will get squeezed out of the enterprise."
Simon Briskman,
Agenda Setters panellist



Viviane Reding Related Content

Content featuring Viviane Reding

EU healthcare reaps benefits of broadband

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Euro e-health getting the right attention

Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for information society and media, said in a statement: "Europe is starting to reap the benefits of broadband connections in the e-health sector. An EC e-health survey has found the vast majority (87 per cent) of...

Europe embracing speedy fat pipes

EU Commissioner for information society and media, Viviane Reding, said the fact all 27 EU states are promoting IT is helping Europe to compete internationally, while also modernising every day life for European citizens.

In-flight mobiles to take off over Europe

But the EC's information, society and media commissioner, Viviane Reding, has already sounded a pre-emptive warning to operators about sky-high prices. If mobile operators were hoping mile high mobiles could be the new shortcut to revenue heaven...

BT CEO Ben Verwaayen to step down

Viviane Reding BT's CEO Ben Verwaayen is to step down as CEO on 31 May 2008 after more than six years at the telco where he championed its push into broadband and helped it dodge regulator Ofcom's axe.

Google, Yahoo! and MySpace announce OpenSocial Foundation

Viviane Reding Google, Yahoo! and News Corp's MySpace.com have announced they have formed the OpenSocial Foundation, a not-for-profit group to support the OpenSocial initiative that Google kick-started last year to promote a universal standard for...



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