p
0
THE TOP 10 MOST
INNOVATIVE
COMPANIES BY
CATEGORY
Artificial Intelligence
Architecture Asia-Pacific
MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES 2020
- Zilingo For con-
necting merchants to
fashion’s supply
chain—and winning
the right to sell Disney-
branded goods
- Coupang For en-
abling global brands
such as Lego to sell in
Korea via its popular
e-commerce site
- Samsung Elec-
tronics For cooking
up a robotic chef
- Organic Initia-
tive For debuting
plastic-free, organic
cotton hygiene
products for girls
- Stormseal For
protecting storm-
ravaged homes with
its novel shrink-wrap
- iHandal Energy
Solutions For recy-
cling wasted heat
from buildings
- Apon Well being
For giving Bangla-
deshi garment
workers free health
insurance if they gro-
cery shop at work
- Lumitics For as-
sessing waste in
restaurant kitchens
- Airlift Technolo-
gies For introducing
app-based bus
hailing to Pakistan
- Shiok Meats
For growing shrimp
in a lab
- Graphcore
For enabling the
next generation of
AI applications with
its Intelligent Pro-
cessing Unit AI chip
- Persado
For tutoring clients
like Chase to fluency
in marketing-speak
- LivePerson
For becoming a ma-
ven in discerning
customer intent via
messaging apps
- Viz.ai For cata-
lyzing care after
a patient’s stroke
- Nvidia For con-
verting sketches
into finished images
with its GauGAN
technology
- Hive For bringing
savvy to measuring
the value of TV
advertising and
sponsorship
- Syntiant
For moving process-
ing power to the
smallest devices,
with its low-power
chips that handle
voice interactions
- Wint
For plugging leaks
that waste water
- Interactions
For serving restau-
rants an intelligent
order taker across
app, phone, and
drive-through
- Kasisto
For giving birth to
Kai (born from
the same Stanford
research as Siri),
who has become
a finance whiz
- Studio Gang
Architects
For building with
cities, not for them
- Snøhetta
For pioneering
carbon-negative
buildings that gener-
ate more energy
than they consume
- Olson Kundig
For redesigning the
cemetery
- New Story
For developing resil-
ient houses along-
side underserved
communities
- WRNS Studio
For making net-zero
energy buildings a
net positive at the
Stevens Library and
Microsoft’s Silicon
Valley campus
- Lever Architec-
ture For leading the
way in actually de-
signing timber build-
ings, such as Adidas’s
new HQ expansion
- Fos ter + Par t-
ners For transform-
ing Apple Stores in
Miami and NYC into
community plazas
- KieranTimber-
lake For figuring out
where an office is
cold or drafty with its
Roast survey app, so
issues can be fixed
- Nendo For apply-
ing its Japanese
product-design aes-
thetic to architecture
projects such as
Tokyo’s Kojimachi
Terrace, which fea-
tures a “sky forest”
- Gh3 For jumping
into the world of
natural, chemical-
free pools
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS
The Bot Chef is a demonstration
product by the home-appliance gi-
ant, an extra pair of (robotic) arms
to stir the sauce or dress a salad.
It wowed trade-show attendees for
the past year, alongside futuristic
Samsung kitchen gear that is
actually available, such as AI-laden
fridges with digital bulletin boards.
ILLUSTRATION BY ADAM HAYES MARCH/APRIL 2020
