--- title: Bill Gates: 6 Innovations That Will Change the World description: Bill Gates believes that these six innovations are worth watching in the future, including artificial intelligence and gene editing. canonical: https://time.com/5066163/bill-gates-thinks-these-6-innovations-could-change-the-world/ author: Bill Gates article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-04T12:00:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:44:17.340Z article:section: Science og:title: Bill Gates Thinks These 6 Innovations Could Change the World og:description: What will be the next invention that changes history? og:url: https://time.com/5066163/bill-gates-thinks-these-6-innovations-could-change-the-world/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6884b44b7ac5570/6988f53e4ee262145e310308/bill-gates-innovations-future.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5622 og:image:height: 3162 og:image:alt: Former President Obama Speaks At The Gates Foundation Inaugural Goalkeepers Event og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bill Gates Thinks These 6 Innovations Could Change the World twitter:description: What will be the next invention that changes history? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6884b44b7ac5570/6988f53e4ee262145e310308/bill-gates-innovations-future.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bill Gates Thinks These 6 Innovations Could Change the World > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a9b36085-9aef-4a0a-b385-146447be2991&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Bill Gates on Healthcare [Watch (HLS stream): Bill Gates on Healthcare](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YxMNctaW.m3u8) (2:58)  _Published 2018-01-04. Nancy Gibbs sits down with guest-editor Bill Gates to discuss advances in healthcare._  by [Bill Gates](https://time.com/author/bill-gates/)  ## Bill Gates Jan 4, 2018 12:00 PM UTC Nancy Gibbs sits down with guest-editor Bill Gates to discuss advances in healthcare.  by [Bill Gates](https://time.com/author/bill-gates/)  ## Bill Gates Jan 4, 2018 12:00 PM UTC When Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press, he changed the course of history. You could say the same about Thomas Edison’s light bulb, Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine, and Grace Hopper’s compiler. What will the [next great invention](http://time.com/5027078/the-25-best-inventions-of-2017/) to transform history? Here are a few innovations that I think are worth watching. ## Better Vaccine Storage [Vaccines](http://time.com/4696950/flu-vaccine-side-effects/) have saved millions of lives around the world, but they spoil if they aren’t stored at the right temperature. A group of inventors from[ Global Good](http://www.intellectualventures.com/globalgood) in Seattle have created an innovative new refrigerator called the MetaFridge. It stays cold enough to keep vaccines safe even during long power outages. They’re also working on a portable cooler that enables vaccinators to travel farther and reach kids in the most remote places. ## **Gene Editing** Imagine a future where we could edit a sick person’s DNA to make them better or remove the genes that enable mosquitoes to transmit malaria. We’re still in the early stages of development with [genome editing tools](http://time.com/4892412/gene-editing-crispr-cas9-neurodiversity/), and I know there are a lot of questions about how to use this technology responsibly. But I’m hopeful about the possibilities. ## **Solar Fuel** If we’re going to end our dependence on[ fossil fuels](http://time.com/4662116/renewable-energy-fossil-fuels-growth/) and [curb climate change](http://time.com/italy-alps-climate-change/), we need a lot of different approaches. I recently[ visited a lab](https://www.gatesnotes.com/Energy/Beating-Nature) at Caltech where researchers are exploring ways to turn the sun’s energy into fuel. We’re still a long way off from the day you can fill up your car with solar fuel, but Caltech’s creative approach gives me hope that we’ll achieve an energy miracle in the near future. ## **mRNA Vaccines** Most vaccines use weakened or inactivated forms of a virus to help your body create immunity and prevent disease. Scientists are studying how to use genetic material instead, which would make it quicker and less expensive to develop new vaccines. If we can teach the body to create its own natural defenses, we can revolutionize the way we prevent disease. ## **Improved Drug Delivery** If you’ve ever had to take a medication at the same time every day, then you know how easy it is to miss a pill. A company called Intarcia wants to change that. They’ve created a small device that gets implanted under your skin and slowly releases medication over time. There are a number of ways this technology could be used to better treat and prevent disease, but the one I’m most excited about is an HIV prophylactic. One implant could protect a person [at risk for HIV](http://time.com/5044760/hiv-world-aids-day/) for up to a year. ## **Artificial Intelligence** Of all the innovations on this list, this one seems like the surest bet to transform the way we live. Although [AI will create new challenges](http://time.com/4967348/hollywood-artificial-intelligence-movies-tv/) that we need to address – including how to retrain [workers who lose their jobs to automation](http://time.com/4923566/robots-artificial-intelligence-jobs/) – I think it will make our lives more productive, more efficient, and easier overall. ## Transcript [00:00] You've focused on health at the outset when you and [00:04] Melinda were launching your foundation. Our global [00:07] health work has exceeded our expectations. Its [00:11] been amazing that you can make [00:15] vaccines cheap, you can get them out to more children. [00:18] The achievement of childhood survival is one on the [00:22] The most amazing human achievements. And what [00:25] turned out to be harder than you bargained for? Well in [00:28] health, HIV was a huge crisis [00:32] when we got into this. The soonest we get a vaccine, [00:37] is probably eight years from now. And so that's been [00:40] far more difficult than we expected, and we need [00:44] innovation which I know will come but it's been slower [00:48] than we've hoped for. Investing in the health and [00:51] wellbeing of people in a poor country pays dividends [00:55] far beyond that country's borders. You've been very [00:58] outspoken about The importance of foreign aid as not [01:02] just on moral grounds but practical economic, national [01:06] security grounds. What's the argument you made to the [01:11] unemployed worker in Ohio about why this is money [01:14] that the government should be spending? Well, the [01:16] development need we provide helps. Stabilized [01:21] the world and lift these countries up so they can be [01:24] self- sufficient. And our aid is less than 1 % to [01:28] the US budget. The payback to US foreign aid, getting [01:32] rid of small pox, on the verge of getting rid of polio. [01:36] Lifting countries like South Korea, there was a huge [01:39] [ UNKNOWN ] up. So now it's a substantial, a [01:43] donor. The impacts have been phenomenal. Well, you [01:46] also touched on, about keeping epidemics in check [01:51] before they spread. Of all the major bad things, [01:56] That could happen, a nuclear war, asteroid, [02:00] trogonicus quid, the one that's the most scary is the [02:04] big epidemic, helping poor countries so they would [02:08] detect it early and they would have the capacity to stop [02:11] it when the numbers are very very small, is [02:14] advantageous to the entire world In the case of Ebola, [02:18] because it wasn't caught early, the U. S. had to spend [02:21] a lot of money, including deploying the U. S. military, [02:25] lots of CDC people went in and did heroic work. So it's [02:29] a big success, but there will be many more like that [02:32] that could be worse, that is the speed of infection Of [02:37] a flu is 20 times faster than Ebola. So it [02:41] could go global if you took this long to figure out what [02:44] was going on, as we did with Ebola. So it's an [02:47] investment for the world that prevents pandemics [02:52] coming to the United States. 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