A VIRTUAL EVENT | APRIL 26 - 27, 2022

Behind The Scenes Of The MIC List

Why our editors put the Canva CEO on the cover of the ‘Most Innovative Companies’ issue

Inside the music and social media trends that shaped the Most Innovative Companies list

Why supporting the gig economy is important to the Most Innovative Companies list

About MIC and How We Judge

Fast Company has produced Most Innovative Companies since 2008. The program started with a single list of The World’s 50 Most Innovative companies; in 2009, Top 10 lists chronicling innovation in 12 specific industry sectors were added. Today, the program includes 52 categories, which encompass both industry sectors and every geographic region. Most Innovative Companies was early in honoring such disruptive companies as Hulu, Tencent, Shopify, Spotify, Alibaba, and many more. Most Innovative Companies has been nominated by the American Society of Magazine Editors for best single-topic issue and helped Fast Company win Magazine of the Year in 2014.

Most Innovative Companies is judged by more than three dozen editors and writers, who leverage their expertise to assess the innovations—and the impact of those efforts—of thousands of companies across dozens of sectors. The process takes place virtually year-round, but the most active judging period lasts several months and includes evaluating applicants as well as performing independent research into businesses making an impact in their industry or region. Fast Company’s edit team considers the financial success of an innovative initiative, the ripple effect of a given innovation across an industry or the broader culture, and its positive societal impact. (Editors also take into account the negative potential of an innovation on workers, the environment, or the broader fabric of society.) Innovations, or the impact from them, must take place in the year being judged.

*1 trophy per company