The Top 50 Most Influential Projects

1. World Wide Web – For connecting everyone and everything
2. Apollo 11 – For proving risk management and out-of-this-world ambitions can make the impossible possible
3. Intel® 4004 Microprocessor – For democratizing the power of computing*
4. The Euro – For flawlessly executing the largest monetary changeover in history
5. Human Genome Project – For rising above usual silos to unlock the building block of humanity and enable unparalleled innovations in medicine, biotech and life sciences
6. Alibaba® Singles Day – For creating the largest e-commerce day in the world and fundamentally shifting how people shop*
7. Prius® Car – For driving the auto industry toward a more sustainable future*
8. Live Aid® Concert – For reimagining the magnitude and model of philanthropy with a major dose of celebrity*
9. M-Pesa® Mobile Microfinancing Platform– For delivering cutting-edge mobile technology that allowed Kenya to leapfrog past more advanced economies and start a banking revolution*
10. Svalbard Global Seed Vault – For building the ultimate insurance policy for the world’s food supply
11. Netflix® Streaming – For proving a single project can pivot a company, an industry and viewing habits of the entire world*
12. DynaTAC 8000x™ Mobile Phone – For connecting phones to people, not places*
13. Alexa® Voice Service – For making voice-activated computer interface a part of everyday life*
14. Paris Fashion Week – For transforming a ho-hum industry showcase into an all-eyes-are-watching global event
15. Burj Khalifa– For standing tall as a symbol of economic diversification in the Middle East
16. Walt Disney World® Resort – For setting the bar on immersive entertainment – and then raising it again and again*
17. Google® Search – For transforming the way we think about and identify information*
18. Belt and Road Initiative – For launching the largest infrastructure blitz the world has ever seen –1,814 projects and counting
19. Bitcoin – For putting cryptocurrency on the map and giving birth to blockchain
20. MRI – For revolutionizing medicine in a noninvasive way
21. Harry Potter® Books – For making reading cool – and that’s just the beginning of the magic*
22. Boeing 747® Airplane – For making the world smaller with the first jumbo jet*
23. iPod® Player – For being the gateway gadget to the iUniverse*
24. Hornsdale Power Reserve – For showing how one big battery could revolutionize renewable energy
25. Rwanda National Unity and Reconciliation Commission – For forging a path to recovery and redemption amid severe trauma
26. International Space Station – For showing that space exploration transcends global politics
27. Panama Canal Expansion – For supersizing a century-old waterway to meet modern shipping demands
28. Global Polio Eradication Initiative – For leading the world’s largest public health initiative and bringing a deadly disease to the brink of elimination
29. Atari 2600™ Video Game Player – For bringing arcade games into homes around the world*
30. Ground Zero Master Plan – For helping a city and nation heal, remember and rise again
31. Aadhaar – For using biometrics to recalibrate how Indians interact with their government and beyond
32. Vindeby Offshore Wind Farm – For demonstrating the viability of offshore wind as a clean energy powerhouse
33. Curitiba BRT – For sparking a transportation revolution in cities around the world
34. COSMOS™ Package Tracking System – For opening the e-commerce floodgates with real-time package tracking for express courier service*
35. Swat Valley Project – For championing girls’ education and empowerment in a country where its founder was once attacked for exercising those rights
36. Wikipedia® Online Encyclopedia – For tapping into the world’s collective knowledge with a radically collaborative, multilingual online encyclopedia*
37. Star Wars® Motion Pictures – For reinventing special effects and cementing the concept of a movie blockbuster series, all while taking viewers to a galaxy far, far away*
38. Project Tiger – For rescuing the majestic big cat from the brink of extinction in the wild
39. Sorek Desalination Plant – For relieving devastating drought with a sustainable solution
40. First IVF Baby – For delivering a modern medical miracle
41. Chernobyl Cleanup – For mitigating the world’s worst nuclear plant disaster – twice
42. E-Estonia – For building the world’s first digital country
43. World of Warcraft® Interactive Game – For taking video game play to a whole new level*
44. Large Hadron Collider – For enabling mind-blowing scientific discoveries that are helping physicists decode the universe
45. TGV – For igniting Europe’s ultra-fast bullet train – safely
46. Khan Academy® Education Services – For demonstrating the vast promise of online learning*
47. Watson® Computer Software – For ushering artificial intelligence and machine learning into the mainstream*
48. Tengger Desert Solar Park – For building the Great Wall of Solar
49. Operation Flood – For transforming India into the world’s largest milk producer and helping to kick-start the country’s nascent economy
50. Sydney Opera House – For demonstrating architecture’s power to redefine a city
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