Many of the emerging technologies that will be entering the market in 2033 are already known in some form in 2008, according to Gartner, Inc. Many of the innovations that will unfold during the next 25 years can be found today in research papers, patents, or are in a prototype in production.

These long-term innovations, taking place in five to 20 years, go beyond the range of the typical IT project portfolio planning cycle. These innovations are classified as ‘IT Grand Challenges’. Gartner defines an IT Grand Challenge as a fundamental issue to be overcome within the field of IT whose resolutions will have broad and extremely beneficial economic, scientific or societal effects on all aspects of our lives.

"IT leaders should always be looking ahead for the emerging technologies that will have a dramatic impact on their business, and information on many of these future innovations are already in some public domain," said Ken McGee, vice president and Gartner Fellow. "Today, CIOs should identify which Gartner IT Grand Challenges will be most meaningful for their enterprise. Then within the next 12 months, review patents for additional IT Grand Challenge candidates. Apply logical conclusions to Gartner emerging technologies, business and societal trends research to identify IT Grand Challenges. Lastly, identify preferred sites to monitor developing academic, government or corporate research on chosen Grand Challenges. There are technologies on the horizon that will completely transform your business."

Gartner has identified seven IT Grand Challenges. They include:

• Never having to manually recharge devices
• Parallel Programming:
• Non Tactile, Natural Computing Interface
• Automated Speech Translation
• Persistent and Reliable Long-Term Storage
• Increase Programmer Productivity 100-fold
• Identifying the Financial Consequences of IT Investing