Most important technology of 2011? The geeks weigh in

What was the most important research of 2011? It’s an interesting question to ask as the year winds down, nevertheless we’ve in fact been asking it throughout the year, as one of the questions for the people featured in our Geek of the Week profiles.

The same time

Taken at the same time, the consistencies and differences in their answers provide a great snapshot of the past year in innovation.

iOS. Everything that excites me about innovation right now is either in iOS, running on iOS, or copied from iOS. — Dave Howell, Avatron Software.

Android OS. An open-source solution for mobile in all forms is ground breaking. This will have the same impact on mobile that DOS had for the personal computer nevertheless at an accelerated rate. – Delane Hewett, DataSphere.

Social networking APIs - and more importantly, the widespread realization that the web is now about people, so there is ample will to apply them. — Matt Shobe, BigDoor.

The cloud. The cloud enables small businesses to play in the big leagues. It's an awesome equalizer to let the startups and neighborhood stores become serious players in the market. I think that this is good for the economy and good for technological advancement. – Julia Ferraioli

Security and privacy innovation. With the explosion of social networking and cloud computing, our private data is now more susceptible to exposure and abuse than ever previously. Sony's recent large security breach is a prime example. It is critically important that we make significant improvement in this area now because the problem will only get worse over time. — Sendi Widjaja, Avvo

If it pans out, the new DRACO vaccine innovation from MIT. It sounds too good to be true, and probably is, however there is cautious optimism that it may be able to cure in substance all known viral diseases. Wow. – Chip Brown, Puzzazz.

The most important research of 2011

Not the most important research of 2011, however definitely one of the coolest the first consumer light field camera. You can focus photos afterwards you've taken them! — Kristina Wang, University of Washington

Tablets and smartphones. They are changing the way people communicate, consume information, work and play, and ultimately our live. — Giordano Contestabile, PopCap Games.

It has to be the tablet. I think we are for all that trying to understand how users will use their tablets and where the use boundaries are between smartphones, tablets, PCs, and other devices. – Kelly Franznick, Blink.

I think it's amazing how far we have come with mobile phones over the last decade. Your whole life in the palm of your hand - amazing. Every advancement in mobile phones has been in the extreme important. I loved the implementation of payment through phones done by Startbucks in particular. — Arianna O’Dell.

Broadband / Wireless internet. High speed access to data during at home or work allows and enables people to do more, see more, be more. Wireless internet allows our mobile devices to have access to our location, and in the not too distant future our preferences, which will enable Enhanced Location Based Search. — Jeff Shuey, Kodak.

Smartphones, because I believe everyone should have one hereafter. — Robert Clarke, OmniTechNews, 14-year-old tech journalist.

This was the year that the Nissan LEAF became available. Mainstream availability of a one hundred percent electric car is a big turning point in innovation. — Eric Danas, Vertafore.

I'm as a matter of fact excited about the emerging green innovation for vehicles, including MSU's wave disk generator and the furthermore refining of electric engines. – Erica McGillivray, GeekGirlCon.

Geek of the Week is a regular feature profiling the characters of the Pacific Northwest innovation community. See the Geek of the Week archive for more.

Perhaps because I have been working in the Datacenter sector for then over a decade I don’t understand the fascination with “The Cloud”… it is as a matter of fact only a different way to manage & pay for something that has been part of computing since day one. Physical Infrastructure has and will always exist. Electricity being transformed into bits. The only difference “The Cloud” makes is who owns the infrastructure and who is paying rent to use it. It is just a buy or lease scenario.

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