A lot of innovations have happened since 1979 and when news was read on paper and the personal computer was a pipe dream. Nightly Business Report, partnered with Knowledge@Wharton to create a
list of the "Top 30 Innovations of the Last 30 Years."
The show's
audiences from more than 250 markets across the country and
Knowledge@Wharton's readers from around the world were asked to suggest
innovations they think have shaped the world in the last three decades. Mobile phones came in at number three/
And the winners are, in order of importance:
- Internet, broadband, WWW (browser and html.)
- PC/laptop computers.
- Mobile phones.
- E-mail.
- DNA testing and sequencing/Human genome mapping.
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
- Microprocessors.
- Fiber optics.
- Office software (spreadsheets, word processors).
- Non-invasive laser/robotic surgery (laparoscopy).
- Open source software and services (e.g., Linux, Wikipedia.)
- Light emitting diodes.
- Liquid crystal display (LCD.)
- GPS systems.
- Online shopping/ecommerce/auctions (e.g., eBay.)
- Online shopping/ecommerce/auctions (e.g., eBay.)
- Media file compression (jpeg, mpeg, mp3.)
- Microfinance.
- Photovoltaic Solar Energy.
- Large scale wind turbines.
- Social networking via the Internet.
- Graphic user interface (GUI).
- Digital photography/videography.
- RFID and applications (e.g., EZ Pass).
- Genetically modified plants.
- Bio fuels.
- Bar codes and scanners.
- ATMs.
- Stents.
- SRAM flash memory.
- Anti retroviral treatment for AIDS.