Is it possible to determine which 30 innovations have changed life most dramatically during the past 30 years? What would you suggest - computers? solar energy? eBay?? This is the question that Nightly Business Report, the Emmy Award-winning PBS business program, and Knowledge@Wharton, the online journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, set out to answer.  After receiving some 1,200 suggestions -- including eBay, the mute button, and suitcase wheels -- a panel of eight judges from Wharton reviewed and selected the top 30 of these innovations.

Here's the final list, 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 more information on these innovations and how they were chosen for this list, visit the Top 30 Innovations website on NBR.  Get inspired to innovate by checking out Dibner Library's titles on innovation.