This is a great article, imo.
(snip) So, what's next?
If the first six years of this century are any indication, 21st-century innovation will prove to be even more prolific than the 20th. Consider the social and cultural changes brought about by camera phones manufactured by Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Sony (NYSE: SNE), and Ericsson (NYSE: SI). Suddenly, everyone with a cell phone can be a freelance paparazzo or news reporter. Indeed, there are quite a few of them out there these days -- camera phone sales topped the 300 million mark in 2005.
Rapid technological advances are also being made in the health-care and renewable energy industries. MedImmune's FluMist, a intranasal flu vaccine introduced in 2003, makes the seasonal flu vaccination less painful and gives doctors another tool to fight a very common ailment. Sales of FluMist jumped 52% over last year's flu season, and MedImmune plans to release a refrigerator-stable version of FluMist for the 2007-2008 season.
A recurring topic that will be addressed and re-addressed in the 21st century is the need for renewable energy sources. Integrated oil companies, for example, are getting into the renewable energy game. BP, for instance, has stakes in solar, geothermal, wind, and hydrogen power technology. Then there are the ethanol producers like Pacific Ethanol (Nasdaq: PEIX), Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE: ADM), and Verasun Energy (NYSE: VSE) that are ramping up production to capitalize on the growing demand for ethanol-based products -- and have seen their stocks skyrocket in response.
Clearly, whether the eventual solution is wind energy, ethanol, nuclear energy, a more efficient use of current fossil fuels, or solar energy, a lot of money will be spent and made to solve our world's growing energy needs. At our Motley Fool Rule Breakers growth investing service, one company we've recommended is Suntech Power, a Chinese company that designs, manufactures, and sells photovoltaic cells, which are used to generate power in solar panels. Currently, solar power accounts for a fractional percentage of current energy use, so there's huge growth potential here. Moreover, because Suntech is aiming to be the world's low-cost producer of solar technology, our team thinks the company is in a good position to meet both consumer and environmental demands. (snip)



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