Each year for more than 20 years, TIME has published an article on “the most impactful new products and ideas” which are evaluated based on originality, efficacy, ambition, and impact. A decade ago, I wrote about Time Magazine’s Best of 2014 and noted I was most intrigued by wireless electricity technology. Since then, wireless electricity has become commonplace, especially for charging mobile phones.
Time Magazine’s Best of 2024 has 200 winners (and 50 special mentions) – too many for me to list here. I encourage you to browse the entire list. There are so many fascinating inventions that I wasted invested more than an hour speculating how these innovations might impact the next decade.
Here are five of my favorites:
Literally Cotton – Lab-gown cotton seems much more practical and impactful than lab-grown food. If this can be done cost-effectively at scale, the retail supply chain will be revolutionized. Plus, Literally Cotton is a great brand name.
Filter Caps – 3D printed caps for existing bottles which makes water safe to drink by filtering out contaminants and mineralizing the water. Assuming large-scale production can drive down the current cost of $6 per cap to ~$1, Filter Caps could have a hugely beneficial impact on remote areas.
Rebind Book Club – Imagine having an unfiltered conversation with the author of a book, play, or song to better understand the meaning of the work or their motivation. Of course, the conversations are really with a content-specific AI, not the actual authors. Rebind is still in beta test with only a few dozen books but I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
Toi Labs TrueLoo – The idea for a toilet that scans stool and urine samples for signs of health problems has been around for at least a decade. I never saw much use in the average home but Toi Labs has smartly focused on senior living facilities. It’s easy to imagine the potential life-saving benefits there.
Yondr Pouch – Given my role, I’ve had multiple experiences using Yondr to secure mobile devices in its pouch when artists prefer no unauthorized images/videos are released. However, Yondr reports its fastest growing use case is protecting schools from unauthorized devices (not just phones), a disquieting but likely profitable market.
There are lots of other intriguing ideas on Time Magazine’s Best of 2024, from a smoke filtration system which allows you to grill indoors, to a small device that turns a pedal bike into an e-bike, to an over-the-counter glucose monitor.
Which invention do you think is the best innovation of 2024?
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