Top 30 innovations - a reflection on achievement

When you work in finance, you believe the world revolves around your industry. Not true. The Innovation and entrepreneurship portion of the knowledge@wharton website lists the top 30 innovations of the last 30 years.

The list is as follows, in order of importance:

1. Internet, broadband, WWW (browser and html)
2. PC/laptop computers
3. Mobile phones
4. E-mail
5. DNA testing and sequencing/Human genome mapping
6. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
7. Microprocessors
8. Fiber optics
9. Office software (spreadsheets, word processors)
10. Non-invasive laser/robotic surgery (laparoscopy)
11. Open source software and services (e.g., Linux, Wikipedia)
12. Light emitting diodes
13. Liquid crystal display (LCD)
14. GPS systems
15. Online shopping/ecommerce/auctions (e.g., eBay)
16. Media file compression (jpeg, mpeg, mp3)
17. Microfinance
18. Photovoltaic Solar Energy
19. Large scale wind turbines
20. Social networking via the Internet
21. Graphic user interface (GUI)
22. Digital photography/videography
23. RFID and applications (e.g., EZ Pass)
24. Genetically modified plants
25. Bio fuels
26. Bar codes and scanners
27. ATMs
28. Stents
29. SRAM flash memory
30. Anti retroviral treatment for AIDS

For all that has been negative concerning what some would call a period of excess, we have had some impressive achievements Think what your live would be like without those 30 innovations.

Perhaps I am biased but I would include the movement to global capitalism and trade. Trade is nothing new but think about the world of 1978 versus the integrated world of today. Without trade, these achievements would not have spread to all parts of the globe.