50 Smartest Companies 2015
Sometimes we hear that technology companies have lost their ambition. Too many great minds are pouring their energy into the next app for the affluent, the argument goes. Where is the daring?
Right here. This year, when the editors of MIT Technology Review began our annual search for the smartest companies, we did not have trouble finding big ideas. To make the list, a company must have truly innovative technology and a business model that is both practical and ambitious, with the result that it has set the agenda in its field over the past 12 months.
No. 1, Tesla Motors, has added another audacious idea to go with its electric cars. In April, it announced it would be spinning off a line of batteries in service of a big goal: remaking the energy grid for industry, utilities, and residences.
Of all the sectors we cover, biomedicine has had the biggest year. Companies have turned research breakthroughs, many powered by genomic analysis, into products that treat challenging diseases. Gilead Sciences, No. 15, sells the first pill that can cure most cases of hepatitis C. Bristol-Myers Squibb, No. 26, is selling an immunotherapy drug that is saving the lives of people with skin and lung cancer.
By contrast, energy companies have been far less innovative, it seems to us, so that sector plays a smaller role on this list. One highlight is No. 6, SunEdison, which is electrifying developing countries.
As always, many newer, private companies can be found here, starting with No. 5, Counsyl, a startup whose cheap, automated DNA analysis is expanding from prenatal testing to cancer screening.
A few giants return after an absence from the list: Microsoft, at No. 48 for its wearable HoloLens device that blends virtual reality and the real world, and Apple, No. 16, for its well-designed smart watch and digital-wallet service. All share one feature: they are innovations with impact. —Nanette Byrnes
50 Smartest Companies
- 5
Counsyl
- Headquarters South San Francisco, California
- Industry Biotech
- Status private
- Years on the List 2015
3.6 percent
Proportion of U.S. couples that use its tests before trying to conceive - 6
SunEdison
- Headquarters Maryland Heights, Missouri
- Industry Energy
- Status public
- Years on the List 2015
1.1 billion
number of people worldwide who don’t have access to electricity - 8
Juno Therapeutics
- Headquarters Seattle, Washington
- Industry Biotech
- Status public
- Years on the List 2015
$304 million
Amount it raised in the largest biotech IPO of 2014 - 9
SolarCity
- Headquarters San Mateo, California
- Industry Energy
- Status public
- Years on the List 2015
177,000
Number of U.S. customers who lease SolarCity’s rooftop solar panels - 11
OvaScience
- Headquarters Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Industry Biotech
- Status public
- Years on the List 2015
$25,000
Maximum amount it charges IVF clinics for the treatment - 14
AliveCor
- Headquarters San Francisco, California
- Industry Biotech
- Status private
- Years on the List 2015
2 million
Number of ECG readings on its devices so far - 15
Gilead Sciences
- Headquarters Foster City, California
- Industry Biotech
- Status public
- Years on the List 2015
$3.6 billion
Sales of the drug in the first three months of 2015 - 17
Voxel8
- Headquarters Somerville, Massachusetts
- Industry Computing & Communications
- Status private
- Years on the List 2015
5,000
Factor by which its inks improve conductivity, according to the company - 19
Amgen
- Headquarters Thousand Oaks, California
- Industry Biotech
- Status public
- Years on the List 2015
10,000
Number of sequenced genomes in the database - 25
Universal Robots
- Headquarters Odense, Denmark
- Industry Computing & Communications
- Status private
- Years on the List 2015
70 percent
Increase in revenue from 2013 to 2014 - 27
Teladoc
- Headquarters Dallas, Texas
- Industry Internet & Digital Media
- Status private
- Years on the List 2015
10 million
Number of U.S. members in its remote-consultation service - 35
ThyssenKrupp
- Headquarters Essen, Germany
- Industry Transportation
- Status public
- Years on the List 2015
6.4 billion euros
Company’s global elevator sales in 2014 - 37
Line
- Headquarters Tokyo, Japan
- Industry Internet & Digital Media
- Status private
- Years on the List 2015
205 million
Number of monthly active users - 40
Coinbase
- Headquarters San Francisco, California
- Industry Internet & Digital Media
- Status private
- Years on the List 2015
2.9 million
Number of Bitcoin accounts registered with Coinbase - 41
HaCon
- Headquarters Hannover, Germany
- Industry Internet & Digital Media
- Status private
- Years on the List 2015
40 million
Number of journeys planned on its system every day - 42
3D Systems
- Headquarters Rock Hill, South Carolina
- Industry Computing & Communications
- Status public
- Years on the List 2015
50
Factor by which 3D Systems hopes to increase the speed of 3-D printing - 43
Generali
- Headquarters Trieste, Italy
- Industry Biotech
- Status public
- Years on the List 2015
60
Number of countries in which the company operates - 45
DNAnexus
- Headquarters Mountain View, California
- Industry Biotech
- Status private
- Years on the List 2015
56,000
Number of computer processors the company uses to analyze DNA - 49
Imprint Energy
- Headquarters Alameda, California
- Industry Energy
- Status private
- Years on the List 2015