When we dream about the future, the possibilities are endless. Everyday a new innovation is made, some of these innovations turn out to be impactive to the everyday lives of people. In the process these projects have made dreams a reality through creativity, adaptability, and perseverance–and continue to shape the world around us. The most influential projects list recognizes projects that have transformed their sectors and the entire business landscape, from technology to healthcare, infrastructure to architecture, finance to entertainment.
The list celebrates the most impactful projects and highlights how project management has helped turn these ideas into reality. The projects identified are those that provide incredible insights into how project management has changed, is changing, and will continue to change the world for the better. They should demonstrate how excellence in project execution will be critical in meeting the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow, while also providing an inspirational reflection on what project work has enabled and the central role it has played in creating our present.
Here are the top 50 most influential projects in the world.
| Rank | Project | Reason/Role played |
| 1. | World Wide Web | For connecting everyone and everything. |
| 2. | Apollo 11 | For proving risk management and out-of-this-world ambitions can make the impossible possible. |
| 3. | Intel® 4004 Microprocessor | For democratizing the power of computing. |
| 4. | The Euro | For flawlessly executing the largest monetary changeover in history. |
| 5. | Human Genome Project | For rising above usual silos to unlock the building block of humanity and enable unparalleled innovations in medicine, biotech and life sciences. |
| 6. | Alibaba® Singles Day | For creating the largest e-commerce day in the world and fundamentally shifting how people shop. |
| 7. | Prius® Car | For driving the auto industry toward a more sustainable future. |
| 8. | Live Aid® Concert | For reimagining the magnitude and model of philanthropy with a major dose of celebrity. |
| 9. | M-Pesa® Mobile Microfinancing Platform | For delivering cutting-edge mobile technology that allowed Kenya to leapfrog past more advanced economies and start a banking revolution. |
| 10. | Svalbard Global Seed Vault | For building the ultimate insurance policy for the world’s food supply. |
| 11. | Netflix® Streaming | For proving a single project can pivot a company, an industry and viewing habits of the entire world. |
| 12. | DynaTAC 8000x™ Mobile Phone | For connecting phones to people, not places. |
| 13. | Alexa® Voice Service | For making voice-activated computer interface a part of everyday life. |
| 14. | Paris Fashion Week | For transforming a ho-hum industry showcase into an all-eyes-are-watching global event. |
| 15. | Burj Khalif | For standing tall as a symbol of economic diversification in the Middle East. |
| 16. | Walt Disney World® Resort | For setting the bar on immersive entertainment – and then raising it again and again. |
| 17. | Google® Search | For transforming the way we think about and identify information. |
| 18. | Belt and Road Initiative | For launching the largest infrastructure blitz the world has ever seen – 1,814 projects and counting. |
| 19. | Bitcoin | For putting cryptocurrency on the map and giving birth to blockchain. |
| 20. | MRI | For revolutionizing medicine in a non-invasive way. |
| 21. | Harry Potter® Books | For making reading cool – and that’s just the beginning of the magic. |
| 22. | Boeing 747® Airplane | For making the world smaller with the first jumbo jet. |
| 23. | iPod® Player | For being the gateway gadget to the iUniverse. |
| 24. | Hornsdale Power Reserve | For showing how one big battery could revolutionize renewable energy. |
| 25. | Rwanda National Unity and Reconciliation Commission | For forging a path to recovery and redemption amid severe trauma. |
| 26. | International Space Station | For showing that space exploration transcends global politics. |
| 27. | Panama Canal Expansion | For supersizing a century-old waterway to meet modern shipping demands. |
| 28. | Global Polio Eradication Initiative | For leading the world’s largest public health initiative and bringing a deadly disease to the brink of elimination. |
| 29. | Atari 2600™ Video Game Player | For bringing arcade games into homes around the world. |
| 30. | Ground Zero Master Plan | For helping a city and nation heal, remember and rise again. |
| 31. | Aadhaar | For using biometrics to recalibrate how Indians interact with their government and beyond. |
| 32. | Vindeby Offshore Wind Farm | For demonstrating the viability of offshore wind as a clean energy powerhouse. |
| 33. | Curitiba BRT | For sparking a transportation revolution in cities around the world. |
| 34. | COSMOS™ Package Tracking System | For opening the e-commerce floodgates with real-time package tracking for express courier service. |
| 35. | Swat Valley Project | For championing girls’ education and empowerment in a country where its founder was once attacked for exercising those rights. |
| 36. | Wikipedia® Online Encyclopedia | For tapping into the world’s collective knowledge with a radically collaborative, multilingual online encyclopedia. |
| 37. | Star Wars® Motion Pictures | For reinventing special effects and cementing the concept of a movie blockbuster series, all while taking viewers to a galaxy far, far away. |
| 38. | Project Tiger | For rescuing the majestic big cat from the brink of extinction in the wild. |
| 39. | Sorek Desalination Plant | For relieving devastating drought with a sustainable solution. |
| 40. | First IVF Baby | For delivering a modern medical miracle. |
| 41. | Chernobyl Cleanup | For mitigating the world’s worst nuclear plant disaster – twice. |
| 42. | E-Estonia | For building the world’s first digital country. |
| 43. | World of Warcraft® Interactive Game | For taking video game play to a whole new level. |
| 44. | Large Hadron Collider | For enabling mind-blowing scientific discoveries that are helping physicists decode the universe. |
| 45. | TGV | For igniting Europe’s ultra-fast bullet train – safely. |
| 46. | Khan Academy® Education Services | For demonstrating the vast promise of online learning. |
| 47. | Watson® Computer Software | For ushering artificial intelligence and machine learning into the mainstream. |
| 48. | Tengger Desert Solar Park | For building the Great Wall of Solar. |
| 49. | Operation Flood | For transforming India into the world’s largest milk producer and helping to kick-start the country’s nascent economy. |
| 50. | Sydney Opera House | For demonstrating architecture’s power to redefine a city. |
