Leader: Why a surprise Agenda Setter keeps us on our toes

The results of silicon.com's annual Agenda Setters poll are out and it is a 'power list' this year topped by BBC new media chief Ashley Highfield.

This will come as a surprise to many readers. After all, this individual - who is not even top dog at Auntie - comes in above famous figures such as Apple's Steve Jobs (only just though - he narrowly missed out at number 2), Rupert Murdoch, Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds - those last two inseparable at 7.

Also on the list are various VIPs from sectors such as politics (the surveillance society vying for issue du jour), outsourcing/offshoring, communications - check out Skype's Niklas Zennstrom in with a bullet at 3 - and the IT industry more generally. But Highfield prevailed.

This publication feels his winning is no bad thing. For one, it shows that the future of technology is shaped by all types of things. Our panel of expert judges praised Highfield for the way his successes have resulted in new media being put on an equal footing with departments handling television and radio.

That's as it should be. The BBC's internet arm can be criticised for the unique way in which it can operate, including amounts of funding to make any dot-com start-up blush (if that's possible), but its effects have stretched far and wide, with some great pluses.

Agenda Setters is an annual poll but as people have pointed out, it is also something of a game. Does it make a difference to someone's career if they win? To their employer's fortunes? We think not, mostly. But it's an annual snapshot, based on criteria of an individual's global influence and likely longevity, that tells us a thing or two.

This year the surprise winner tells us that we shouldn't only expect tech CEOs, politicos, boffins or billionaires to shape high-tech - and by implication, the wider world.

To see the full Agenda Setters microsite, click here. It features in-depth analysis on the results, the full 50 biographies, a Reader Vote section and an overview here.