By Joel McCormick

If you’ve fallen into despair over a world gone to hell with Iraq and other disasters, the 25 profiles featured in this package should give some cause for optimism. These snapshots are just a sampling of the bright sparks who will be setting the global technology agenda for years to come.

Here you will meet Elizabeth Holmes who, at 19, spurned her dean’s advice and quit Stanford University—only to enlist his support in launching a startup that developed an ingenious monitoring system to track people’s blood status remotely; and Weina Scott, a 17-year-old CEO, with three successful Internet startups already in her résumé; in a report from India, you’ll meet Amir Hasson, who figured out how to bring email to unconnected villages in rural India; and in one from Germany, you’ll meet Olaf Stiller, the man behind a plan that calls for people to freeze their own stem cells—for the day when their restorative powers will be needed to counter the ravages of aging.

And so Red Herring’s inevitably eclectic list goes on. Editors assembled it after asking reporters to nominate the most interesting and compelling people they had come across covering their beats over the last year.

“Interesting and compelling” was defined with the help of a three-point checklist: 1) Successful nominees had to be demonstrably entrepreneurial; 2) They had to have strong track records; 3) And they had to be proven innovators.

The final selection also had to reflect Red Herring’s global outlook.

With one or two exceptions, this year’s selection of under-35s excludes entrepreneurs who headed companies that made headlines after being acquired. It was felt that these entrepreneurs had already been widely recognized, and Red Herring’s goal, after all, was to salute young entrepreneurs just moving into their prime.

That aside, the list does include Joshua Schachter, the genius behind del.icio.us. His site, based on organizing everyone’s bookmarks into one huge community-driven search engine, took a turn for the big time with its acquisition by Yahoo. It seemed fitting to recognize such original thinking in this year’s album of young tech originals.

In terms of companies, seven in this year’s roundup occupied the Internet space; there were four companies in software, two each in biotech and wireless—and there was one each in the solar, medical device, nanotech, and telecom segments. Two venture capital firms also made the list.

Full-year comparisons of venture investment in different segments in the United States are tough to make with last-quarter 2006 numbers yet to come in. But there was enough data piling up to know which ways the winds were blowing.

Take a recent MoneyTree Report compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. The top three sectors receiving investment in 2006, as with 2005, continue to be software, biotechnology, and telecommunications, in that order—though the gap between software and biotech is narrowing.

In 2005, software took in $894 million more than biotech and 2006 could well be the year that biotech pulls ahead of software if trends hold. With the immense interest in wireless technologies, the telecommunications sector is on track to pull ahead of 2005 levels. The sector has already racked up $2 billion as of the third quarter, and has been pulling in an average of $690 million per quarter this year.

The medical device sector is also enjoying more limelight. Full-year 2005 investment clocked in at $2.14 billion; the three-quarter total for 2006 was $1.9 billion, but if the last quarter turns in just $500 million—a low figure, given investment trends over the last several quarters—2006 can be put down as a good year.

Telecom, IT services, and media & entertainment—categories also drawing Internet investment—also show similar year-on-year trends. Overall it’s been a good year for Internet technologies. The Web 2.0 boom has drawn an increasing amount of early-stage investment, just under $1 billion a quarter, with first rounds narrowing the gap with later-stage investments.

In Europe, VC deals fell over the first three quarters of 2006, though average round size increased slightly, with the bulk of VC activity focused on the United Kingdom and France. In Asia, the third quarter was a banner one for China, which racked up $479 million in investments, over half of that in IT. India saw $203 million in VC money in that period, but that still trailed the $241 million New York state piled up in the third quarter. As some venture segments shrink—network equipment being one example in the U.S.—others, like nanotech, will gather strength and come into their own. But regardless of which sectors rise or fall, it’s a safe bet the world will be hearing a lot more from the young tech titans you will meet here.