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COMPONENTS.CA

A living museum of great ideas

Innovation Museum

The stories behind the ideas, inventions, products, and companies that changed how the world makes, builds, and does business — where every exhibit is a doorway to the next.

25 exhibits14 people & teams11 companies & products9 industries

Ways to explore

Inventors & Founders14 people & teamsCompanies & Products11 exhibitsConsumer Products14 exhibitsManufacturing13 exhibitsAutomotive6 exhibitsElectronics6 exhibitsMaterials3 exhibitsSoftware3 exhibits

Follow an idea

Product DesignManufacturingBrandingConsumer ProductsMarketingOperationsStandardizationVertical IntegrationElectrificationElectronicsFranchisingJust-in-Time

Featured exhibits

Start here
CompanyFeatured

Apple

1976

Made computing personal, then reshaped consumer electronics around design.

ElectronicsSoftwareConsumer ProductsUnited States
CompanyFeatured

Barbie

1959

Not just a toy — a platform for aspirational play that reshaped the toy industry.

Consumer ProductsManufacturingUnited States
PersonFeatured

Henry Ford

1903

Turned the automobile from a luxury into something ordinary families could own.

AutomotiveManufacturingUnited States
CompanyFeatured

Intel

1968

Helped turn the microprocessor into the engine of the computing age.

ElectronicsArtificial IntelligenceUnited States
CompanyFeatured

Mattel

1945

Turned toys into engineered, mass-manufactured consumer products.

Consumer ProductsManufacturingUnited States
CompanyFeatured

McDonald's

1955

Standardized fast food into a globally repeatable operation.

Consumer ProductsManufacturingUnited States

Explore the collection

Type
Industry

14 profiles

Person

Bill Bowerman

A track coach whose tinkering reshaped how running shoes are made.

Consumer ProductsMaterialsUnited States
Person

Frank Stronach

Built Magna from a single tool-and-die shop into a global auto-parts giant.

AutomotiveManufacturingCanada
PersonFeatured

Henry Ford

1903

Turned the automobile from a luxury into something ordinary families could own.

AutomotiveManufacturingUnited States
Person

James Dyson

1991

Turned a frustration with clogging vacuums into a design-led engineering company.

Consumer ProductsIndustrial EquipmentUnited Kingdom
Person

Kiichiro Toyoda

1937

Founded Toyota's automobile business and seeded the ideas behind just-in-time production.

AutomotiveManufacturingJapan
PersonFeatured

Nikola Tesla

Championed the alternating-current systems that carry electricity across the modern grid.

ElectronicsMaterialsUnited States
Person

Phil Knight

Co-founded Nike and built its distribution and brand.

Consumer ProductsUnited States
Person

Ray Kroc

Turned a single efficient restaurant into a global franchising system.

Consumer ProductsUnited States
Person

Richard and Maurice McDonald

Reinvented the restaurant kitchen as an assembly line for fast, consistent food.

Consumer ProductsManufacturingUnited States
PersonFeatured

Ruth Handler

Co-founded Mattel and created Barbie — proof that consumer-product innovation is real innovation.

Consumer ProductsManufacturingUnited States
PersonFeatured

Steve Jobs

Co-founded Apple and championed tightly integrated, design-led products.

ElectronicsConsumer ProductsSoftwareUnited States
Person

Steve Wozniak

Engineered the early Apple computers that started the company.

ElectronicsSoftwareUnited States
Person

Thomas Edison

Built one of the first industrial research laboratories and made electric light practical.

ElectronicsConsumer ProductsUnited States
Person

Wright Brothers

Solved the problem of controlled, powered flight and opened the age of aviation.

AerospaceUnited States