Last Millennium's Greatest Inventions

The Foundation has reviewed the most renowned inventions from the last millennium, for the entire world, Europe and Finland. Both the invention's importance to its own era and its influence thereafter were taken into account in assembling these lists. Of course, a host of other inventions might have been included in any of the lists, which were all assembled by Kari Sipilä, the executive director of the Foundation for Finnish Inventions from 1991 to 2003.

Many inventions have sparked off a major developmental phase in world history. The world would be very different without top inventions from various quarters. Although they do not make the world ‘top ten', Finland has also been home to world-beating inventions.

In many cases, the basic invention must be improved and thought must be given to its possible applications. Whereas, in the past, the commercial exploitation of an invention, and its use by industry and consumers, often took decades, nowadays this interim period is appreciably shorter.

Around the world, over half a million patent applications are made per year for inventions from various countries. Around 2,000 are made in Finland. This makes Finland one of the world's ten most activenations in this regard, in proportion to its population.