The theme of World Intellectual Property Day, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, is “Innovation – Linking the World.” There are many innovations that have brought the world closer together. Here is my top ten list of representative technologies and the decades in which they emerged.

• Telegraph (1840s)
• Industrial papermaking & automated presses (1880s)
  
• Telephone (1890s)
• Radio (1910s)
  
• Television (1950s)
  
• Networked mainframe computers (1960s)
  
• Digital photocomposition (1970s)
  
• Internet & e-mail (1980s)
• World Wide Web (1990s)
• Cell phone networks (1990s)
• Web 2.0 & social networks (2000s)