Bioinformatics is the gene genie that could bring back the boom years for IT.

Gartner believes that technology to support scientists and companies working in areas like genetic engineering and biological research will become a huge growth business by 2007.

Speaking at the analyst's Spring Symposium in Florence, Gartner vice president and research director Anne-Marie Roussel said that venture capitalists are already investing in the field.

"The money is already starting to shift towards biotechnology. But biotechnology cannot do anything anymore without IT because the big question is about how to use the data we already have," she explained.

Roussel believes that the answer is a hybrid called bioinformatics: the ability to turn our ever-increasing knowledge of atoms and molecules into manageable bits and bytes of data.

Artificial intelligence, next-generation networks and metadata will be among the key technologies.

Roussel is convinced that it will not prove to be another dotcom bubble for investors.

"Bioinformatics is inherently different to the dotcoms because it is based on real rather than perceived needs," she said. "We will need cancer drugs, Aids drugs and more food, so the business projection is much more stable."

The boom may prove to be particularly strong in Europe which has some of the best companies and research centres.

Gartner believes that more immediate technologies like third-generation and web services will have an impact in 2004 and 2005, but that bioinformatics will be the next big boom.