Mashable, National Geographic name MIT developing world research among their top innovations of the year.

National Geographic and Mashable have both named Tata Center projects among the most important technological innovations of 2015.

In a list focused on energy breakthroughs, National Geographic put the Tata Center’s uLink microgrid project alongside Google’s self-driving car and advances in fusion reactor technology.

“MIT researchers also unveiled a system this year to help India’s villages create solar-powered microgrids. They built a device, smaller than a shoebox, that regulates how much power from solar panels goes to immediate uses—such as phone charging—or to batteries for later use.”

Mashable featured the Eco-BLAC Brick project as one of their innovations that “improved the world in 2015.”

“In India, there are hundreds of thousands of brick kilns producing close to 200 billion bricks per year — and the process contributes considerably to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Paper mills also dump boiler ash in landfills, which affects both human and environmental health and has no practical use.

“Tackling both issues head-on, students at MIT developed a new brick, called the Eco-BLAC brick. The students made the brick from boiler ash using low-energy alkali activation technology rather than firing in a kiln.”

Stay tuned to see what these projects (and more than 40 others!) have in store for 2016. In the month of January we’ll be posting, tweeting, and instagramming live from project sites in India, and we’d love to have you follow along!