A Flash of the Future

By Bill Saporito

Not that we needed it, but 2005 reminded us again that fossil fuels are finite and that poverty and terrorism seem to be inexhaustible. The World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers this year include entrepreneurs who are working to alleviate pain at the pump as well as human suffering. They produce energy-sparing new approaches to solar power, nanolighting and even a handheld haz-mat detector. Others are doing amazing work in creating synthesized disease killers, minting silver bullets for pathogens or using stem cells to cure heart disease. On the security front, there are new analyzers, sensors and antivirus hardware that could make our cities and computer networks safer. Finally, someone invented a way to clean up the e-waste left over when all that technology goes out of date in the next minute and a half.

TIME Online Edition: For a complete list of the companies that earned the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneers citation, please go to time.com/techpioneers