User-centric technologies, crowd-sourcing, shared working practices: next-generation collaboration tools such as these may be in their infancy, but they will change the business of business forever.

At its high-profile annual conference in Davos last week, the World Economic Forum (WEF) published its Technology Pioneers report, showcasing companies exploiting the latest technical capabilities in biotechnology, energy and IT. The power of collaboration was the central theme.

Click here to read the full story: Technology collaboration will be the driving force behind business

Universities and employers are teaming up to offer a Masters degree programme to fast track the careers of IT graduates from September this year.

The scheme is designed to run in parallel with an employee’s day job, and students will be able to add credits at their own pace using a modular system. It aims to help answer the skills crisis facing the technology industry.

The problem is that entry-level jobs are increasingly sent offshore, which leaves people at the start of their careers unable to get on the bottom rungs of the ladder, said Karen Price, chief executive of sector skills council e-Skills UK, the main architect of the qualification.

Click here to read the full story: Masters to plug the skills gap

Online sales are reaching new peaks, providing retailers with a welcome counterweight to the economic uncertainty affecting high-street spending.

Marks and Spencer ­ seen as a bellwether for the sector ­ saw a 2.2 per cent drop in Christmas sales, but web sales were up 40 per cent. The pattern was mirrored by a number of other big names such as Sainbury's and Domino's Pizza.

Click here to read full story: Boom time for online sales

Last year ended with technology in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, thanks to a string of “lost” data scandals. As if IT leaders were not already under enough pressure, all things information-related will be high on every chief executive’s agenda in 2008.

Click here to read the full article looking at green computing, economic confidence, privacy, transformational government, digital convergence, and the departure of Bill Gates: The technology year ahead