Taking innovation for granted

There??s a theory making the rounds that technological innovation is slowing down and thus can no longer support the economic growth we??ve come to expect. It??s not normally the sort of thing IEEE Spectrum would cover?? we write about innovation rather than its absence. And indeed, as we cast about for examples of promising tech developments that will make news in 2012, the only problem we faced was in deciding which ideas not to include in the issue.