Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry of Method | photo by Suzy Poling
VC extraordinaire Vinod Khosla invested $25 million in Ausra last year, and Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield, & Byers kicked in another $15 million, a colossal vote of confidence that has proven contagious. In November 2007, Pacific Gas & Electric signed a 20-year power purchasing agreement with the company that will generate more than $1 billion in revenue (Ausra’s first California plant is slated to be up and running by 2010), and Ausra officials are in talks with utilities in Florida and Nevada to cement similar deals. “I don’t think it’s out of the question for us to get 30% of the national grid within 20 years,” Fishman says.
Rather than just going carbon neutral (which it aims to do by 2010) or using sustainable materials (which it does in everything from its products and packaging to its factories and stores), New Hampshire–based Timberland has taken the bully pulpit in its environmental efforts, leading the way to greater responsibility even as it struggles financially. The company aims to influence its consumers’ and employees’ behavior with big benefits for hybrid-car buyers, community-service incentives, green scorecards on its products -- even recycling its billboards into tote bags.
IBM racked up 3,125 U.S. patents in 2007, more than any other company -- for the 15th year in a row. It also celebrated the first anniversary of InnovationJam: CEO Sam Palmisano pledged $100 million for the best ideas at the companywide brainstorm; he ultimately funded 10 of the 37,000 submitted, including five new businesses. “Everyone’s trying to figure out the holy grail of collaborative innovation,” says IBM VP David Yaun. So now IBM is selling the InnovationJam methodology itself.
Founded 62 years ago, Arup is the graybeard of eco-sensitive engineering and design. Its work represents a world tour of avant-garde architecture -- Paris’s Pompidou Center, the Sydney Opera House, the London Eye. Arup’s latest work is no less ambitious: A massive Beijing airport expansion, opening in time for the Olympics, will accommodate 55 million passengers; an eco-village in England will include zero-carbon homes; a “personal rapid transit” system will shuttle Heathrow passengers in driverless pods. Arup has done projects in 160 countries, but its Google-like governing philosophy (set down 38 years ago by founder Sir Ove Arup, a Danish philosopher and engineer) has remained constant: “Our pursuit of quality should in itself be useful.”
There’s a dead body lying on the floor -- no actual flesh, just the crime-scene white-tape outline of a 6-foot-tall man frozen in a mad dash. “Here it is, death of the old advertising model,” smirks Jason DeLand, a partner at Anomaly, pointing at the floor of his company’s Soho loft space. “Shot as he was running out.”
It’s worth a chuckle, despite the cliché of yet another new-breed creative agency taking a shot at its predecessors. Unlike most of the hot shops that have emerged in recent years premised on the demise of the 30-second spot, Anomaly has definitely earned its bragging rights.
Instead of claiming to reinvent advertising, Anomaly shirks the ad categorization altogether. In 2004, DeLand set out with four former colleagues from Chiat\Day and Wieden+Kennedy to build a new kind of company: part branding firm, part design shop, part innovation think tank, part VC firm. Anomaly has created a model that attacks the fundamental flaws of the agency machine. Most ad agencies still earn their paychecks from time sheets and media spend, which means they’re motivated to be inefficient and to produce ideas that are wedded to expensive media. Anomaly takes a different approach, negotiating upfront either a predetermined fee or, better yet, royalties or an equity stake in a product. So when a client comes in with an advertising problem, Anomoly addresses it more broadly as a business issue, analyzing everything from design to product development. “They have a talent that goes beyond your typical artist or creative,” says Brian Kelley, president of Coca-Cola’s Still Beverages, a client. “It’s an eclectic group of people who think about driving every piece of your business.”
Email
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Buzz Up!
LinkedIn
Recent Comments | 14 Total
February 17, 2008 at 6:48pm by john ralston
sorry if this is a repeat - not sure the last post went thru.
I was surprised to see Prosper in this article for several reasons. Among them is high default rates - below is information from Prosper's site showing that defaults are 4.24% for the highest rated borrowers and 45% for the lowest rated borrowers (note actual default rates will be higher since some of these loans are only six months old).
Prosper, unlike other 2.0 firms, has squelched input from the community by deleting all the old forum postings and putting in a new process that screens all comments. Screening is usually fine, but many posts do not make it thru - seems like Prosper does not want its community to be engaged.
Here are the stats - hopefully they will make sense with this cut/paste...
Estimated ROI Help
Performance metric AA A B C D E HR
Average lender rate 10.74% 12.69% 15.05% 17.78% 20.81% 24.03% 23.80%
Net defaults -4.24% -7.01% -11.72% -15.63% -19.09% -29.65% -45.55%
Adjustment (interest and fees) -0.22% -0.43% -0.76% -1.21% -1.72% -2.85% -4.29%
Prosper servicing fee -0.49% -0.48% -0.70% -0.68% -0.67% -0.56% -0.53%
Average annual return 5.80% 4.77% 1.87% 0.25% -0.67% -9.02% -26.58%
Sorry this is not more positive, but I want to make sure you had perspective from someone who has been (was) a long term lender on Prosper.
John R.
February 19, 2008 at 12:00am by Jeremy Fretts
It is ironic to me as a user of AutoDesk products to see them on this list. I suppose their success as a business, and as a technology innovator merits #25. However, it is worth noting that many of their users are at best begrudging at accepting their market dominance.
In ten years of architectural practice, I can't say that I've met ANYONE who truly loved AutoDesk's products. In many cases, they are in fact loathed.
True competition would serve the industry well-- someone needs to inspire improvements to AutoDesk's user interfaces, help documentation, and pricing structure.
February 20, 2008 at 1:08pm by Mike Adam
Tesco's 'Fresh and Easy?' How innovative can that be? Trader Joe's has been around for years, and the concept sounds the same. They sell organics for prices you'd normally see for non-organic/natural at the grocery store, have fresh meat and produce, and are indeed just slightly larger than a 7-11. And yet, Trader Joes' has just about everything you need. They had $1 cliff bars while everyone else still had them $1.50-2.00.
February 20, 2008 at 2:08pm by Brock Stout
I suppose that each company can be argued with, but Toyota's inclusion made me laugh out loud. They helped invent just-in-time manufacturing (decades ago), but everything else, including auto designs, has been copied from other companies. Even in Japan, Toyota is known as the non-innovator, "borrowing" from competitors. Like most American press representatives, Fast Company just prints Toyota press releases without editing them. Sorry, I can't possibly take you seriously in the future on any issue.
February 20, 2008 at 11:54pm by Christoph Spitzenpfeil
I have to add a similar comment to this article about the 50 most innovative companies. I agree on Toyota as a co-commentator did before. The Lexus cars and even the new Camry are just design copies of the real innovator in the Auto industry - BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche; all three dare new technologies whereas Toyota only deploys them when these new technologies have proven themselves in the market.
I am also missing companies in this list which are helping making our environment cleaner and more livable. Where are those companies - the wind turbine and solar panel manufacturers? I am sorry Google, video game companies & Co. do not belong on this list as innovators. The world would be as good or as bad as it is now with or without them! Last but not least it would be nice if this list would contain more companies - and there are really good ones - from outside the English speaking hemisphere. Innovation does not always have only to do with good balance sheets, more sales, more entertainment, and higher volumes; the world has more difficult issues to deal with than those. This is where the list of the 50 most innovative companies massively falls short.
February 28, 2008 at 2:24am by akram uddin
shoukathalle007@gmail.com
March 18, 2008 at 8:52pm by Kristen Wachsmuth
I was surprised and disappointed that Walmart made your list. They have to do more than market energy saving lightbulbs and teach employees about sustainability to be considered a company that is making an environmental transformation. What about all the wetlands and marshes and land that is being destroyed to build their behemoth supercenters right down the street from their current store? Selling 100 million light bulbs in nine months does not make up for that.
August 9, 2009 at 2:36pm by Sergio Mokko
In my opinion, deservedly dominate google and apple. 2 the most innovative companies. By Sergio
August 15, 2009 at 10:36pm by Todd McCalla
There are several companies that looked next to the Cool Springs Galleria that could easily fit into the worlds most innovative companies list. They are startups totally bootstrapping all operations with not one person taking a dime in salary. Williamson County Tennessee, primarily Cool Springs, is a petri dish for venture capital and bright minds.
October 7, 2009 at 9:38pm by cartier jewelry
Nice Post!!
October 20, 2009 at 10:16pm by dd dd
There are several companies that looked next to the Cool Springs Galleria that could easily fit into the worlds most innovative companies list. They are startups totally bootstrapping all operations with not one person taking a dime in salary. Williamson County Tennessee, primarily Cool Springs, is a petri dish for venture capital and bright minds.
http://www.uggboots365.co.uk
October 21, 2009 at 11:29am by Howard Carl
Nike's latest masterstroke is social networking, online and off. From events to the Web to unique retail hubs, Nike is blurring the line between brand and experience. jeep grand cherokee
October 21, 2009 at 11:29am by Howard Carl
Nike's latest masterstroke is social networking, online and off. From events to the Web to unique retail hubs, Nike is blurring the line between brand and experience. jeep grand cherokee
November 23, 2009 at 2:09pm by Faraz Alam
I am big fan of google. I like the way the company has evolved. They are seriously best at web.
free casting call