MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES 2020
- Teachable
For letting anyone
produce their own
master class
- SV Academy
For turning 1,200
overlooked job seek-
ers per year into a
high-tech sales force,
at no cost to them
- Pearson For cre-
ating Aida, a mobile
AI calculus tutor
4. Everfi For teach-
ing students in
grades 2–4 how to
resolve conflicts with
compassion, empa-
thy, and resilience
5. Saga Education
For closing the
achievement gap in
math—students
learned 2.5 years’
worth in a year—by
funding full-time tu-
tors in public schools
6. Examity
For keeping online
test-takers honest
7. EdNavigator
For helping working
families plot their
education path
8. ImmSchools
For educating immi-
grants on their
rights, and helping
schools draft pro-
immigrant policies
9. Coursera
For cracking the
international
market on training
government
workers in such
countries
as Colombia
10. Duolingo
For taking on Gaelic
and Arabic, two
of the most difficult-
to-learn languages
Consumer Electronics
Education
Data Science Design
- KaiOS Technol-
ogies For making
feature phones
smarter across Africa
and Asia
- Qualcomm
For proliferating
5G with its chipsets
and modems
- JLab Audio
For building a virtual
fitting room for its
best-selling,
under-$100 wireless
earbuds
- Visible For show-
ing there’s a digital
alternative to your
wireless carrier
- Tile For embed-
ding its trackers into
chips, laptops, head-
phones, and more
6. iRobot For get-
ting out of the house
for the first time with
a robotic lawn mower
7. L i g h t For creat-
ing a pared-down
second phone
for when you don’t
want to be distracted
8. Insta360 For be-
ing the 360-degree
camera of choice for
everyone from Will
Smith to NASA
9. Helium For
decentralizing the
wireless network
to connect internet
of things devices
over longer ranges
10. Courant For
bringing high design
to wireless charging
- Strava For getting
cities on the right
track to support cy-
clists and runners
- Wattpad
For scripting a strat-
egy to turn books
into hit movies
- ClimaCell
For sensing a new
way to measure
hyperlocal weather,
down to the city block
- Moda Ope-
randi For empower-
ing fashion designers
with trend insights
before production
- Autodesk
For converting 150
million construction
issues into better site
safety and quality
6. Duality Tech-
nologies For crack-
ing the code on
analyzing data even
when it’s encrypted
7. J D D i g i t s For go-
ing hog wild into
Chinese agribusiness
by measuring pigs’
weight, feed intake,
and happiness
8. Textio For rewrit-
ing the rules of busi-
ness communication
by suggesting what
to write as you write
9. Werk For figuring
out how employees
want job flexibility
10. Curacity
For putting influenc-
ers to work booking
open hotel rooms
- Nike For vaporiz-
ing endurance run-
ning with shoes that
reset the sport
- Webflow
For marching
no-code web design
into e-commerce
- Starbucks
For expressing its es-
sence in its flagship
Roastery stores and
brand overhaul
- Form Us With
Love For pushing
partners to sustain-
able solutions,
such as adaptable
office furniture
- The Weather
Channel For pre-
senting storms in im-
mersive mixed reality
6. Formafantasma
For exploring design’s
role in overproduc-
tion, from e-waste to
deforestation
7. Logitech
For stretching niches
with vertical mice
and customizable
gaming controllers
8. Bakken & Bæck
For demystifying
crypto and block-
chain products
9. Room For giving
open-office workers
a quiet place of
their own with its
phone booths
10. Priestman-
Goode For reimag-
ining airline service
as a waste-free class
SAGA EDUCATION
Saga’s tutors work alongside teachers in Chicago, D.C., and New York pub-
lic schools to help students in ninth-grade algebra, a course where a kid’s
failure means they’re less likely to graduate from high school. Using a mix of
in-person and digital methods, Saga reduces math-course failures by 63%.
Energy
- MagniX For engi-
neering an electric
plane that can fly up
to 1,000 miles
- GE Renewable
Energy For manu-
facturing the world’s
most powerful off-
shore wind turbine
3. Green
Mountain Power
For helping
Vermont homeown-
ers buy batteries
4. Bluon For invent-
ing a more efficient
air conditioner
refrigerant
5. Interface
For achieving a year
early its 26-year goal
to be a carbon-
neutral company
6. Powerhome
Solar For installing
solar panels
on NFL stadiums
7. G r e e n Ma n t r a
Technologies
For recycling ordi-
nary plastic into an
industrial material
8. Carbon Light-
house For enabling
companies to opti-
mize their energy use
9. Oxford Proper-
ties For building the
largest net-zero and
timber skyscrapers
10. Sonnen
For designing an
apartment complex
that acts like a
solar power plant
ILLUSTRATION BY MAUS BULLHORST MARCH/APRIL 2020
