Top innovations of the past 75 years: PC, Internet, DNA discovery

Indicating a strong affinity to innovators in technology and tech leaders, more than half of 500 senior-level business executives named the personal computer (56%) and the Internet (51%) as the greatest innovations of the past 75 years, according to a recent survey conducted by BusinessWeek Research Services. Bill Gates (50%) and Steve Jobs (47%) were viewed as the most innovative CEOs. The survey, which addressed innovation in business and leadership in celebration of BusinessWeek’s 75th anniversary, also revealed the companies, entrepreneurs, personalities and political figures considered to be markedly innovative. When asked what they considered to be among the greatest innovations, 49% of business executives named the discovery of DNA, after the personal computer and the Internet. 34% of respondents named the television, and more than a quarter named the polio vaccine, while only 1% cited the hybrid automobile and 2% said cloning.