From 1999 to 2024: an engineering timeline

1999

• First WiFi enabled consumer devices launched

2000

• The first camera phone, the Sharp J-SH04, is released

2001

• Apple's iPod changed the way people listen to music on the go, and heralded the beginnings of personalised pocket devices

2001

• First 3G network launched, allowing people to send photos, emails and more (as opposed to just texts and phone calls)

2002

• Rollout of first cloud computing services, allowing data to be stored on the cloud as opposed to hardware servers

2003

• Human genome sequence mapped for the first time, paving the way for gene editing technologies

2004

• The world's tallest bridge, the Millau Viaduct was built in 2004;
• Launch of Facebook, which paved the way for facial recognition and a new generation of social media platforms, such as Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok
• Launch of NASA Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.

2005

• Google Maps born, exploiting geographic information systems (GIS), which has since been transformational for construction and planning
• Launch of YouTube, the world's first video streaming platform

2007

• iPhone launched
• HS1 complete, enabling first high-speed train journeys from London to Paris via the Channel Tunnel Rail Link
• Digital construction bursts onto the scene as the 'Water Cube' completed in Beijing ahead of the 2008 Olympics. The structure was a landmark in digital prototyping, via building information modelling technology.

2008

• Euphoria gaming software enables on-the-fly, real-time animations of non-player characters, lending an immersive experience to games like GTA IV
• An electric vehicle with lithium-ion batteries, the Tesla Roadster, is the first to go into production

2009

• Retractable roof built at Wimbledon Centre Court so play could continue uninterrupted by rain for the first time

2010

• Burj Khalifa, UAE completed
• First commercial space flights, opening up space access beyond massive government agencies such as NASA

2011

• ARM launches big.LITTLE, the powerful yet low-energy chip architecture behind significantly thinner smartphones with longer battery life
• E-sports born as Twitch launches

2012

• The Shard completed, at the time the tallest building in Europe and remains tallest in the UK at 310m
• Raspberry Pi launches its model B computer, sparking a revolution in low-cost computing
• Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park completed in East London ahead of 2012 Summer Olympics

2013

• First lab-grown burgers served and eaten by Prof Mark Post at a press conference in London

2014

• First predictive text engine based on AI 

2016

• Boston Dynamics launches Spot the robot dog
• Hong Kong's Hanson Robotics launches Sophia the humanoid social robot

2018

• TikTok launches

2019

• Google announced quantum supremacy, when its quantum computer performed a calculation impossible for a conventional computer

2020

• Years of research come together enabling rapid rollout of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines
• Solar becomes cheapest electricity in history

2021

• Launch of James Webb Space Telescope - the successor to Hubble - that unfolded like origami in space
• By 2021, over 1.3 million kilometres of submarine cables had been laid worldwide, carrying 99.5% of internet traffic.

2022

• OpenAI publicly releases ChatGPT-3.5
• Elizabeth Line opens

2023

• Gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 approved to treat sickle cell disease and beta thalassaemia

2024

• Man receives first pig kidney transplant