Fresherized made preservative-free guacamole sterilized by pressure, not heat
High-pressure processing killed the bugs in guacamole without cooking it, so fresh guacamole could ship in refrigerated form for months.
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3,236 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDThe automatic sprinkler opens only near the fire, by melting a fusible link it carries
Parmelee's sprinkler head was held shut by a fusible link, so heat melted just the heads where fire was.
Read the caseAmazon Key In-Car turns a parked car into a parcel locker
Amazon let the Key app unlock a customer's connected car so a courier drops the parcel in the trunk and relocks it - solving porch theft and missed deliveries.
Read the caseStePac's avocado bags slow ripening so they ship by sea, not air
StePac's modified-atmosphere bags slow avocados' ripening and shed moisture, so they survive weeks at sea instead of needing costly air freight.
Read the caseThe retort pouch made shelf-stable food light instead of a heavy can
A flexible laminate pouch is filled, sealed and pressure-sterilized, so food keeps without refrigeration and weighs far less than a can.
Read the caseGopuff's own micro-warehouses put a convenience store next door
Gopuff built and stocked its own dark stores near neighbourhoods, then ran its own riders, so essentials arrive in about 30 minutes.
Read the caseYellow Freight's SYSNET re-plans load routing across 630 terminals
Yellow Freight centralized load planning with interactive optimization, saving $7.3M/yr and improving transit times.
Read the caseMIT gave X away and it became the standard way to draw on Unix
MIT's X Window System was network-transparent and open, so it became the standard display protocol on every Unix workstation.
Read the caseTatu Ylonen's SSH encrypted remote login and became the standard
In 1995 Tatu Ylonen built SSH so remote logins were encrypted and authenticated; the protocol replaced telnet and became the default.
Read the caseSan Diego priced its I-15 HOV lanes dynamically and cut delays
San Diego's FasTrak sold empty HOV seats to solo drivers at a live price; use rose 143% and tolls refunded a bus line.
Read the caseDocker gave away its container format to stop a standards war
In 2015 Docker donated its container image format and runtime to the Linux Foundation's Open Container Initiative, keeping containers portable.
Read the caseMexico's one-peso-per-liter soda tax cut sugary-drink buying
A 1-peso-per-liter excise on sugary drinks cut taxed-beverage purchases by 5.5% in year one and 9.7% in year two.
Read the caseMexico City halved its bike-share cost with an open reverse auction
Mexico City used open contracting and a 26-round reverse auction, cutting Ecobici's operating cost about half and adding 2,800 bikes.
Read the caseMenlo Worldwide Forwarding optimizes its airfreight network routing
Menlo modeled its North American airfreight network to use capacity better, cutting operating costs 21% and adding $80M.
Read the caseKimberly-Clark Latin America optimizes machine scheduling across five countries
Integrated lot-sizing and scheduling cut Kimberly-Clark's finished product inventories up to 45% in five countries.
Read the caseOld Spice revived a stale brand by answering fan comments in near-real-time videos
A shaky men's body-wash brand turned a single ad into a live celebrity who replied to tweets on camera.
Read the caseNike organised a sub-2-hour marathon to turn a new shoe into a story about human limits
Instead of advertising a running shoe, Nike engineered a race, then let three athletes chase history on its foam.
Read the caseMinderoo turned plastic pollution into a daily weather forecast
Instead of another shock image, a foundation reported how many kilograms of plastic fall per day, like rain.
Read the caseMcDonald's turned its golden arches into wayfinding signs that point to the nearest store
Instead of buying new road signs, McDonald's made its logo do the job of telling drivers where to turn.
Read the caseCoca-Cola Australia replaced its logo with first names and reversed a category decline
Putting 150 common first names on cans made a Coke into a personal gift and a shareable moment.
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