WCIWO
RL
D-
CH
AN
GI
NG(^) I
DE
AS
68
I
N
D
E
X
The 2019 Winners
Judges recused themselves from deliberating
on entries submitted by companies that they work
for, fund, or consult.
ADVERTISING
The Uncensored
Playlist
DDB Group
Germany
A project designed to
draw attention to (and
circumvent) press cen-
sorship, by turning
banned articles into
pop songs that were
then made available on
streaming services.
AI AND DATA
Flood Concern
One Concern
A platform that uses ar-
tificial intelligence to
predict where a city will
flood, days before the
storm even hits.
APPS
Aira
Aira
See General Excellence.
CONSUMER
PRODUCTS
Roo
Planned
Parenthood and
Work & Co
A chatbot that discreetly
answers kids’ questions
about sexual health.
CREATIVITY
Outrider
Bomb Blast
Bluecadet
A visualization that
draws attention to the
dangers of nuclear war
by letting users simu-
late the death and de-
struction of a bomb
blast anywhere in the
world.
DEVELOPING-
WORLD
TECHNOLOGY
BanQu
BanQu
A solution that enables
people living in extreme
poverty to create a digi-
tal identity that lives on
the blockchain.
EDUCATION
Meraki
Margdarshaq
Project
Meraki Foundation
A tool to help parents in
the developing world
support their children’s
early education.
ENERGY
Energy Vault
Energy Vault
A solution for
renewable-energy
storage that uses en-
ergy to stack giant
blocks of concrete,
and retrieves energy
later by lowering them.
EXPERIMENTAL
Cellulose-Based
Textile Fiber
Spinnova
A new method to spin
wood into fiber to use
in clothes, all without
using any chemicals.
FOOD
Apeel
Apeel Sciences
A natural coating
to keep produce fresh
longer, cutting down
on wasted food in
supermarkets.
GENERAL
EXCELLENCE
Aira
Aira
A set of glasses for peo-
ple who are blind or low
vision that allows
a video connection with
a call center, where
agents can access the
feed and help the user
complete a task.
HEALTH AND
WELLNESS
Butterfly iQ
Butterfly Network
A cheap and portable
way to perform
ultrasounds.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Upsolve
Upsolve
An online service
designed to be “the
TurboTax for bank-
ruptcy,” giving people
who can’t afford
lawyers access to this
important legal tool to
deal with debt.
SPACES, PLACES,
AND CITIES
Ryse Commons
Ryse
A community space
for youth on probation,
connecting them to
services to help with
rehabilitation.
STUDENTS
Incluse
Max Julian Fischer,
Florian Beck, and
Christian Dittrich
A hearing aid designed
to look stylish, counter-
ing the stigma of con-
ventional solutions to
hearing loss.
TRANSPORTATION
EPIC Chassis
Motiv
A chassis that allows ex-
isting commercial trucks
to be produced as elec-
tric vehicles, without
major design changes.
WORLD-CHANGING
COMPANY
OF THE YEAR
IBM
A range of entries
shows that technology
can create innovative
solutions to global
problems—from hun-
ger to disasters to
discourse.
Fast Company’s third annual World-Changing Ideas Awards drew
nearly 2,000 submissions across 17 categories. From this pool,
our judges selected the following winners. To find out more about
them, visit fastcompany.com/world-changing-ideas.
Judges
Dev Aujla
Author, 50 Ways
to Get a Job: An
Unconventional Guide
to Finding Work on
Your Terms
George Aye
Cofounder and
director of innovation,
Greater Good Studio
Chrysanthe
Broikos
Curator, National
Building Museum
Will Byrne
Senior resident,
Ideo CoLab
Jean Case
Chairman, National
Geographic Society;
CEO, Case Foundation
Ivan Cash
Principal, Cash Studios
Robin Chase
Executive chair, NUMO
Carol Cone
CEO, Carol Cone on
Purpose
John Elkington
Founder and chief
pollinator, Volans
Robert Fabricant
Cofounder and
partner, Dalberg Design
Phillip Haid
Cofounder and CEO,
Public
Jessica Jackley
Chief impact officer,
Aspiration
Jonathon Keats
Experimental
philosopher, artist, and
writer
Cliff Kuang
Author, User Friendly:
How the Hidden
Rules of Design Shape
the Way We Live,
Work & Play
Alnoor Ladha
Executive director,
The Rules
Brittany Lane
Senior director
of media,
Unreasonable Group
Rachel Lauter
Executive director, Fair
Work Center and
Working Washington
Jessica
L’ E s p e ranc e
Manager, social good,
Facebook
Wilneida Negrón
Technology fellow,
Ford Foundation
Danielle
Nierenberg
President and
cofounder, Food Tank
Emily Pilloton
Founder and executive
director, Project H
Design and Girls
Garage
Navi Radjou
Coauthor, Frugal
Innovation
Brooks Rainwater
Senior executive and
director, National
League of Cities’ Center
for City Solutions
DeAndrea
Salvador
Founder and CEO,
Renewable Energy
Transition Initiative
Caroline
Samponaro
Head of bike, scooter,
and pedestrian
policy, Lyft
Michael Seo
Managing partner,
ReaMedica and
ReaMedica Health
(Kenya)
Michael Shank
Communications
director, Carbon
Neutral Cities Alliance
Nicola Twilley
Cohost, Gastropod
podcast
Jeff Wessler
Founder, Heartbeat
Health
Sherrie Westin
President, global
impact and
philanthropy, Sesame
Workshop
Richard Whitt
President, Glia
Foundation
After screening, Fast Company
editors forwarded more than
200 entries to our judging panel,
made up of 31 business leaders
with expertise in social innovation.
Illu
stra
tio
n^ b
y^ V
inc
en
t^ V
irio
t.^ Ic
on
s:^ J
ose
ph
Sa
nd
ova
l