In the last five years, people have realized the importance of creativity and quality in China.

WSJ: The New Cachet of 'Made In China'

It took many years before anyone realized the importance of broadband and the speeds of high bandwidth.

FORBES: Microsoft Still Can't Find Its Future. Is It Too Late for the Company?

Some were scared and others were brave, but all of them realized the importance of this vaccine.

WHITEHOUSE: Spreading the Word About Tetanus

"If we had had only Japanese investors, we may never have realized the importance of shareholders, " Ariga says.

CNN: THE NEW JAPAN INC.

In talking to Cevik I realized the importance of looking for an original market as much as an original idea.

FORBES: Startup Turkey

In the meantime, authorities have also realized the importance of Canada for U.S. energy and are enticing companies with new pipelines.

FORBES: America's Energy Future May Lie In Canada's Oil Sands

"The busier I became the more I realized the importance of staying connected and accessible to the people who are at the coalface of our business, " Mirchandani told CNN.

CNN: Spending quality time with staff

In baseball, Billy Beane utilized Sabremetrics to analyze important statistics that others overlooked, allowing him to make smart-value plays and get the biggest bang for his buck with a tight budget (sound familiar?) And recently, the MLB and NBA have both realized the importance of statistics and turned to SAP for access to unprecedented insight and analysis.

FORBES: Fantasy Football: Time To Rank And Draft Employees?

Marriott said he first realized the true importance of the international market when his company expanded into Asia.

CNN: Marriott mogul on 55 years of change in the hotel business

So I realized that Ghana's independence day, its importance was not only a matter of celebrating the day, its importance was that this day could be a day we could use to reflect on where Africa is.

CNN: 'Ghana's Bob Marley' spreads message of brotherhood