To celebrate their three decades on the air, PBS’ Nightly Business Report teamed up with Knowledge@Wharton, the online research and business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, to select the 30 most important innovations from the last 30 years. The results are in, and the Internet reigns supreme.
The complete results:
30. Anti retroviral treatment for AIDS [Health Care]
29. SRAM flash memory [Electronics]
28. Stents Health [Care]
27. ATMs [Finance]
26. Bar codes and scanners [Retail]
25. Bio fuels [Biotechnology]
24. Genetically modified plants [Biotechnology]
23. RFID and applications (e.g. EZpass) [Electronics]
22. Digital photography/videography [Electronics]
21. Graphic user interface (GUI) [Computer Science]
20. Social networking via internet [Media]
19. Large scale wind turbines [Energy]
18. Photovoltaic Solar Energy [Energy]
17. Microfinance [Finance]
16. Media file compression (e.g., jpeg, mpeg, mp3) [Computer Science]
15. Online shopping/ecommerce/auctions (e.g., eBay) [Information Technology]
14. GPS Systems [Electronics]
13. Liquid Crystal Displays [Electronics]
12. Light emitting diodes (first real devices in 1960s; in products in mid-70s) [Electronics]
11. Open source software and services (e.g., Linux, Wikipedia) [Media]
10. Non-invasive laser/robotic surgery (laparoscopy) [Health Care]
9. Office software (Spreadsheets, word processors) [Computer Science]
8. Fiber optics [Telecommunications]
7. Microprocessors [Computer Science]
6. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) [Biotechnology]
5. DNA testing and sequencing/Human genome mapping [Biotechnology]
4. E-mail [Computer Science]
3. Mobile phones [Telecommunications]
2. PC/laptop computers [Computer Science]
1. Internet/broadband/WWW (browser and HTML) [Telecommunications]
