TIME - 100 best inventions 2020
Photographs: Jessica Pettway
Every year, TIME recognizes products, software and services that are making the world better, solving compelling problems in creative ways. This year’s list features gadgets, devices, products, and services in multiple categories such as health care, food, artificial intelligence, accessibility, electronics, augmented reality, design, finance, and entertainment. This prestigious list, curated by the editors of TIME, generated more than 530 million global media impressions in the past year
The magazine said the list was compiled through solicited nominations from TIME editors and correspondents around the world, and through an online application process. Each contender was then evaluated on key factors such as “originality, creativity, effectiveness, ambition, and impact.”
“The result: 100 groundbreaking inventions—including a smarter beehive, a greener tube of toothpaste, and technology that could catalyze a COVID-19 vaccine—that are changing the way we live, work, play and think about what’s possible,” the magazine wrote.
Among the best inventions were a power wheelchair accessory, a smart baby crib, an AR training platform for frontline workers, a made-to-order manicure service, a phone that doubles as a notebook by Microsoft, a robotic tutor, a vegan pork offering, and an indoor gardening solution.
Here are some of the innovations from the list
A faster First Response
Flare
When emergency medical care is required in the U.S., the first instinct is to call 911. But in Kenya, the only option is to call independent ambulance companies, some of which could be hours away. Enter Flare, an app that links callers in Kenya to a nationwide network of ambulance operators, dispatching the nearest one in the shortest time possible. For about $24 a year, subscribers have 24/7 access to more than 500 ambulances, enabling a rapid response. Flare’s American co-founders, Maria Rabinovich and Caitlin Dolkart, plan to expand the program to other countries. “No matter where you are, or who you are, emergency help should be just minutes away,” says Rabinovich. —Aryn Baker
Water, Water Anywhere
Skysource WEDEW
With climate change accelerating, H2O is more precious than ever. This mobile generator produces fresh drinking water via an often overlooked source: air. Users dump discarded plant and animal materials, such as wood chips or nutshells, into the machine, which WEDEW heats up, releasing water vapor into the air in the process. Then the generator condenses the vapor into drinkable water. The whole system, which also includes a battery storage pod and a refrigeration module, fits into a single 40-ft. transport container. In 2020, WEDEW and the World Food Programme formed a partnership to bring the generator to a refugee camp in Uganda, in addition to communities in Tanzania. —Paulina Cachero
The Sustainable Smartphone
Fairphone 3+
Some 50 million tons of electronic waste is created each year, much of it composed of elements that were unethically sourced in the first place. (One example: gold, found in circuit boards, is often mined under dangerous conditions.) In contrast, Dutch company Fairphone makes phones using minerals from conflict-free zones, sourced via more responsible supply chains. The phones are also built to stay out of landfills as long as possible. Made of 40% recycled plastic, the new Fairphone 3+ (€469, or roughly $554) has replaceable parts and an expected life span of five years. Its repair-friendly design lets you swap your battery or screen, or even upgrade your camera’s quality with just a screwdriver, encouraging users to hang on to their devices longer. —Patrick Lucas Austin
A skill-building robot.
Emobbied Moxie
Don’t let the cutting-edge AI and robotics fool you—Moxie is more like a Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood character than HAL. Created by vets of the children’s show as well as Pixar, Jim Henson Productions, and experts in education and child development, the robot is designed to help boost the social and emotional skills of 5- to 10-year-olds. In Moxie ($1,699), children find a compassionate pal who encourages reading and drawing, and sends them on missions meant to spur engagement with adults, siblings and peers, such as writing kind notes for their family to find or talking to a friend about feelings. Paolo Pirjanian, CEO and founder of Embodied, Moxie’s creator, says it is intended to offer “a springboard into the real world.” —Marjorie Korn
Linking Health Care Workers
Vocera Smartbadge
At critical moments while caring for patients, doctors and nurses must drop what they’re doing if they need to call a colleague. The Vocera Smartbadge is like an extra pair of hands. Worn like a necklace or pinned to scrubs, the device lets clinicians reach other team members using voice-activated commands. “You never have to stop what you’re doing, reach in your pocket and pull out your phone, or take off your gloves to interact with another device,” says Brent Lang, CEO of Vocera. Used by more than 100 health care facilities, the Smartbadge has proved especially useful during the COVID- 19 pandemic because it allows clinicians to make calls without removing personal protective equipment. —Mandy Oaklander
A Greener Running Shoe
Allbirds Tree Dasher
Running shoes are incredibly wasteful, relying heavily on oil-based synthetics like plastic. The Allbirds Tree Dasher is made almost entirely from natural materials, with a carbon footprint estimated at almost a third lower than that of the average sneaker. But using eucalyptus, merino wool, castor-bean oil and sugarcane isn’t just about “stuffing nature into a performance shoe and hoping that it doesn’t degrade the performance,” says Jad Finck, Allbirds’ vice president of innovation and sustainability. Instead, these materials actually boost performance: the eucalyptus fibers are cooling, the wool regulates temperature, and the sugarcane midsole provides performance cushioning. And while the Tree Dasher is not meant for marathons, the shoes— priced at $125—are well suited for a weekend jog or a morning dash to the grocery store. —Sanya Mansoor
Industry, Powered By The Sun
Heliogen HelioHeat
Creating the tons of steel and concrete we use to build our world requires a massive amount of heat—and most of it comes from burning dirty fossil fuels. HelioHeat cleans up that process by using the power of the sun. Here’s how it works: A field of 100,000 motorized, computer-controlled mirrors concentrates sunlight in the direction of a 40-m-tall tower, “like a giant magnifying glass,” says Heliogen founder Bill Gross. There, a hot spot gets up to 2,000°F, where the heat can be harnessed to melt steel or make cement or electricity. Future iterations of the tech, says Gross, could use the sunlight to create hydrogen to power zero-emission automobiles. —Jesse Will
At-Home Sampling
OraSure OMNIgene Oral
OraSure is helping make COVID-19 testing—and quick results—more accessible. The company received among the first emergency-use authorizations from the FDA for an at-home COVID-19 sample-collection kit. Instead of going to a health professional and having a swab thrust up their noses, users spit into the OMNIgene Oral collection tube and send it to a lab, which then turns around the results in a day or two. Such collection kits, which anyone can order online, could vastly expand the reach of COVID-19 testing. —Alice Park
The Climate Cop
Climate TRACE
For years, Silicon Valley companies have used artificial intelligence to make social media more addictive and streaming recommendations more predictive. “But very few people want to point these tools at the biggest problem we’re facing: CO2 emissions,” says Gavin McCormick, a co-founder of Climate TRACE. The first-of-its-kind environmental analytics tool—backed by an international coalition that includes seven environmental nonprofits and former Vice President Al Gore—uses a combination of machine learning, infrared satellite imagery and advanced computer modeling to track polluters worldwide in real time. The information it collects, accessible through a data-rich online portal that is set for release in 2021, will help environmental organizations verify that governments around the globe are honoring pledges to cut greenhouse gases. The data will also enable companies to better judge their supply chain’s cleanliness—and help the public stay informed too. —J.R. Sulliva
Hydrogen Power for Airplanes
ZeroAvia
In 2019, passenger airlines emitted a record 915 million tons of CO² into the atmosphere. But bluer skies may be ahead. Case in point: ZeroAvia’s zero-emission hydrogen-electric power train, which substitutes hydrogen fuel cells and electric motors for conventional fossil-fuel-powered engines. The tech was recently tested on a flight north of London, in which a small Piper M-Class six-seater took to the air. Founder and CEO Val Miftakhov, a pilot and a veteran in the sustainable-transportation industry, predicts that the tech will be able to power a 20-seat aircraft with a range of 500 miles within three years and a 100-passenger jet within 10. —Jesse Will
A Sustainable Substitute
Impossible Pork
The world’s most- consumed animal protein is pork—and its farming results in a slew of environmental issues, including pollution due to swine waste. Impossible Foods, which wowed the world with its rendition of a burger in 2015, aims to tackle these issues with a plant-based pork substitute, Impossible Pork. Previewed at CES 2020, Impossible Pork is made from soy and said to taste uncannily like the real deal. While the favorable environmental impacts of a pork alternative are clear, plans for a commercial rollout of Impossible Pork are still in the works. —Nadia Suleman
Affordable Higher Ed
Outlier.org
Even before COVID-19 made campuses physically risky, higher education faced a serious crisis, largely because of debt—total student-loan debt hit a staggering $1.5 trillion in 2019. Less expensive online learning is one solution, but the quality of web-based schools has been spotty at best. Enter Outlier. Built by the people behind the online-learning platform MasterClass, Outlier offers remote college courses for credit through the University of Pittsburgh. The courses—which include calculus, astronomy, psychology and statistics—are taught by top professors from schools like Yale and NYU, and are made with high production values not usually seen in online education. —Matthew Gault