Every year, TIME highlights inventions that are making the world better, smarter and even a bit more fun.
To assemble our 2021 list, we solicited nominations from TIME's editors and correspondents around the world, as well as through an online application process. We then evaluated each contender on a number of key factors, including originality, creativity, efficacy, ambition and impact.
The result is a list that includes an innovative, eco-friendly dye for jeans, a truly novel pasta shape, groundbreaking vaccines for COVID-19 and malaria–and much more.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARGEAUX WALTER FOR TIME
With reporting by Eloise Barry, Leslie Dickstein, Mariah Espada, Alejandro de la Garza, Nik Popli, Simmone Shah and Julia Zorthian
This appears in the November 22, 2021 issue of TIME.
- The Fall of Roe and the Failure of the Feminist Industrial Complex
- What Trump Knew About January 6
- Follow the Algae Brick Road to Plant-Based Buildings
- The Education of Glenn Youngkin
- The Benefits and Challenges of Cutting Back on Meat
- Here's Everything New on Netflix in July 2022—and What's Leaving
- Women in Northern Ireland Still Struggle to Access Abortion More Than 2 Years After Decriminalization
