By silicon.com, 19 September 2006 12:45
NEWS
As the countdown begins to silicon.com's seventh annual Agenda Setters poll of tech's 50 most influential individuals, it is time to look back at those who held top 10 positions in 2005. Today we catch up with last year's number 3, Ashley Highfield.
It's been another very busy year for Ashley Highfield, the 2004 Agenda Setters winner and last year's third place.
As director of new media and technology at the BBC, he has been working hard on the concept of 'BBC.co.uk 2.0' - the Beeb's version of web 2.0. Key projects include the BBC iPlayer, which will allow 'catch-up' TV up to seven days after it is broadcast; putting the BBC programme catalogue online; and overhauling the organisation's websites and investigating blogs.
As he explained earlier this year: "Everything we do here is around technology innovation, to keep the BBC relevant in the digital age."
He also has responsibility for the BBC's output on the internet and interactive TV, new and emerging platforms such as mobile and broadband - as well as managing the BBC's technology portfolio, including R&D.
Web 2.0 is a big change for Auntie, as he admitted in a speech to TV execs in May: "Peer to peer and other technologies are shifting the power from the centre to the nodes at the edge of the network: you and me. This is a tough culture shift for an organisation used the certainties of the broadcast world."
If all this wasn't enough, in July, as part of a wider reorganisation, BBC director-general Mark Thompson announced that a new Future Media and Technology division (FM&T) will be created - led by Highfield - to concentrate on emerging technologies, playing a leading role in finding and developing new ways for audiences to find and use content.
FM&T will manage all new media platforms and gateways such as BBC.co.uk, the emerging i-player and web 2.0, as well as metadata, search and navigation and BBC Information & Archives.
But will he still be sitting at the top table with the rest of the Agenda Setters? Given the buzz around web 2.0 and the influence the Beeb has around the world, we're betting on a top 10 finish yet again.
silicon.com's Agenda Setters panel, made up again of CIOs, analysts, VCs, consultants, lawyers, academics and other experts, convenes in September with the results revealed at the end of the month. If you want to pass on your comments for our experts - about Ashley Highfield or any other contender - drop us an email at editorial@silicon.com.
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