Every year, TIME highlights the Best Inventions that are making the world better, smarter and even a bit more fun. (See last year’s list here.)
To assemble our 2018 list, we solicited nominations across a variety of categories from our editors and correspondents around the world, as well as through an online application process. Then TIME evaluated each contender based on key factors, including originality, creativity, influence, ambition and effectiveness.
The result: 50 groundbreaking inventions that are changing the way we live, work, play and think about what’s possible.
Photo-Illustration by Andrew Myers for TIME
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