Economic downturns are a time when a lot of innovation happens quietly under the radar. That’s because some companies get sidetracked trying to stay alive and weaker competitors often go out of business. That leaves the door wide open for innovators who find a way to build a better mousetrap, or offer products that are highly valuable in a down economy, or think up a product that no one knew they needed yet.

For a capital-intensive industry like the technology industry, it’s natural to think that it will be one of the areas of the economy hardest hit by the current recession. However, in spite of the economic storm clouds, 2009 will likely be a watershed year in tech, because of two factors: the developments under way that will not slow down for the recession and the opportunities that are being created or intensified by the recession itself.

1. U.S. broadband investment
Broadband investment is a large part of the massive economic stimulus package that U.S. President Barack Obama wants to use to jump-start the jalopy that is the U.S. economy. Although the $800 billion package - which is expected to pass this week - contains about $6 billion for broadband investments, this is likely just the beginning of the broadband initiatives for the Obama administration.

2. Storage in the cloud
Web-based apps, that most people, due to cloud computing, latched on to in 2008, remain important, and you can expect them to continue to change the ways people work during 2009, but a much more important development is the arrival of Web-based storage. This is going to fundamentally change computing, because it is going to untether users from their PCs and allow them to quite simply access their work from anywhere on any device - eventually including smartphones as well.

3. Cheap computers unleashed
The Netbook phenomenon shows that a lot of users had a lot more computer than they needed. In addition to Netbooks, 2009 will see the arrival of “Nettops,” Atom powered desktop computers. Some of those could cost as little as $100 (not including monitor) and could also be used to power thin clients as well.
The result of all these “cheap” PCs being unleashed on the market is that it will drive down the overall cost of a PC and significantly lower the barrier to entry for new people trying to buy a PC for the first time or replace an old one.

4. An opportunity in power
After cloud computing, the next most overused buzzword in 2008 was “Green IT.” And while many Green IT and alternative energy initiatives have been shelved due to lack of funding since the economic meltdown last September, there is still a place for projects that can show a clear ROI through energy savings.