Project Management Institute Announces the Top 50 Most Influential Projects of the Last 50 Years

Project Management Institute (PMI) today announced the top 50 notable and influential projects of the past 50 years in its list of Most Influential Projects. This is a first-of-its-kind ranking for PMI that celebrates the most impactful projects from the past 50 years and highlights how project management has helped turn these ideas into reality.

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. Honorees include iconic achievements such as Apollo 11, the Boeing 747® airplane, and the Human Genome Project, as well as under-the-radar triumphs like the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway and China’s Tengger Desert Solar Park. The top ranked project is the creation of the World Wide Web.

The honorees were chosen from among more than 1,000 high-impact projects identified by 400 leaders in the global project management community, including PMI chapter leaders and members, as well as academics and industry experts. The final selections, made by PMI’s thought-leadership team, provide an inspirational reflection on what project work has enabled and the central role it has played in creating our present.

“The projects we’ve identified provide incredible insights into how project management has changed, is changing, and will continue to change the world for the better,” said Sunil Prashara, President and CEO of Project Management Institute. “This list demonstrates PMI’s vision of how excellence in project execution will be critical in meeting the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow.”

The list is part of PMI’s larger 50^th anniversary celebration to recognize the important role project management has played over the past five decades and celebrate where the profession is going. In addition to the top 50 list, PMI also released the top 10 most influential projects across 14 categories in a variety of regions and industries.

To view the complete list of honorees and industry- and location-specific top 10 lists, visit pmi.org/most-influential-projects. The list will also be featured in a special edition of our award-winning PM Network^® print magazine.

The Top 50 Most Influential Projects

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 Khalifa– 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 noninvasive 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

About Project Management Institute (PMI)

Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world's leading association for those who consider project, program or portfolio management their profession. Through global advocacy, collaboration, education and research, we work to prepare more than three million professionals around the world for The Project Economy: the coming economy in which work, and individuals, are organized around projects. Celebrating our 50^th anniversary in 2019, we work in nearly every country around the world to advance careers, improve organizational success and further mature the project management profession through globally-recognized standards, certifications, communities, resources, tools, academic research, publications, professional development courses and networking opportunities. As part of the PMI family, ProjectManagement.com creates online global communities that deliver more resources, better tools, larger networks and broader perspectives. Visit us at www.PMI.org, www.projectmanagement.com, www.facebook.com/PMInstitute and on Twitter @PMInstitute.

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Contact information

Rachael Ballard
443-618-7014