Explore the full 2022 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 528 organizations whose efforts are reshaping their businesses, industries, and the broader culture. We’ve selected the firms making the biggest impact with their initiatives across 52 categories, including the most innovative corporate social responsibility, energy, and consumer goods companies.
When immigrants arrive in their new home countries without translatable credit, it forestalls their chances at economic success. As children have lost school time during pandemic lockdowns, they’ve missed eye tests at school at a vital age, leading to worsening vision. In our Social Good category, we honor companies pinpointing these problems, which may appear niche but affect so many.
In a moment of devastating carbon emissions, soaring waste, and heightened domestic abuse, customers are demanding that the companies from which they buy step up to the challenges. Some 77% of Americans are motivated to use businesses that are actively making the world a better place; almost a quarter have a zero-tolerance policy for those with ethically questionable practices. Those attitudes are only becoming more pronounced as millennials and Gen Z gather more purchasing power.
Our chosen companies not only address the issues, but make solving them the very core of their business. Beyond Good has revamped the entire chocolate supply chain model in order to pay Madagascan cocoa farmers a more just wage; Neste has formed a line from fast-food waste to sustainable aviation—powering passenger jets with fuel refined from deep-fat fryers. And the innovation is exciting: There are smart cameras that spy on piles of garbage and learn their activity to help reduce environmental waste, and fashionable bracelets that double up as alert systems for people encountering sexual harassment.
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
