No. 6 Wen Jiabao, Chinese premier

Last year's position: Not placed

Former geologist Wen Jiabao has emerged from a rather unspectacular political background to become one of China's most popular leaders as he takes forward the reform and modernisation of the country's economy.

Analysts predict China will be a 'global IT superpower' in as soon as five years but emphasise its success will depend on the quality of government involvement.

As head of a country with a population of 1.3 billion people and one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Wen is not only the gatekeeper to a lucrative market for the western technology industry but is in a position to directly influence future global standards and trends.

Indeed the Chinese government has already thrown its support behind an open source alternative to Windows that panicked Microsoft into releasing cheap, basic versions of its software in parts of Asia. On the mobile front the country is developing its own 3G standard. Meanwhile Chinese IT companies such as Huawei Technologies and Lenovo are challenging western competitors head on.

China also has an important role to play in the wider Asia-Pacific region. This last year has seen Wen personally seal strategic partnerships with some of the leading Indian IT companies and say the two countries could, together, become world leaders in IT.

But the path to IT superpower status will require a lot of intervention from Wen and his government. At the same time, other far-from-insignificant obstacles - such as the country's inconsistent enforcement of intellectual property rights and the totalitarian approach to internet censorship - will need to be tackled for western companies to feel comfortable doing business there.