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The Business Issue

July 2017

Our editors pick the 50 companies that best combine innovative technology with an effective business model.

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Letter from the editor

Features

Categorized in 17036
It Pays to Be Smart
Superstar companies are dominating the economy by exploiting a growing gap in digital competencies.
Categorized in 17036
Carbon Prints Amazing Materials
Using his background in chemistry, CEO Joseph DeSimone has taken a whole new approach to advanced manufacturing, enabling Carbon, number 18 on our list of the 50 Smartest Companies, to print materials with a broad range of useful properties.
Categorized in Biotechnology
Oxford Nanopore’s Hand-Held DNA Analyzer Has Traveled the World
A British company, number 32 on our list of the 50 Smartest Companies, bets a tiny analyzer will change how we look at DNA.
Categorized in Artificial intelligence
A Reality Check for IBM’s AI Ambitions
IBM, number 39 on our list of the 50 Smartest Companies, overhyped its Watson machine-learning system, but the company still could have the best access to the kind of data needed to make medicine much smarter.
Categorized in Artificial intelligence
General Electric Builds an AI Workforce
As part of its shift toward high-tech businesses, the 125-year-old company, number 40 on our list of the 50 Smartest Companies, is threading artificial intelligence throughout its operations, starting with its scientists.
Categorized in Computing
Google Stakes Its Future on a Piece of Software
Alphabet, number 5 on our list of the 50 Smartest Companies, thinks it can wrest the cloud computing market away from Amazon by helping companies make use of machine learning with a tool called TensorFlow.
Categorized in Silicon Valley
Why Tesla Is Worth More Than GM
A few companies that master digital technologies are capturing huge chunks of the economy. Does this explain the persistence of slow growth?
Categorized in Tech policy
Zipline’s Ambitious Medical Drone Delivery in Africa
In Rwanda, an early commercial test of unmanned aerial vehicles cuts a medical facility’s time to procure blood from four hours to 15 minutes.

Also in this issue
- Virtual Reality’s Missing Element: Other People
  VR can be the basis of a new communications industry if the technology becomes less insular and isolating.
  Categorized in 17041
- The Unaffordable Urban Paradise
  Tech startups helped turn a handful of metro areas into megastars. Now they’re tearing those cities apart.
  Categorized in 17036
- Why Bad Things Happen to Clean-Energy Startups
  New technologies for storing power from wind and solar farms will be key to a clean-energy future. But Aquion Energy’s recent bankruptcy shows the market challenge of making that happen.
  Categorized in Climate change
- Inspecting Algorithms for Bias
  Courts, banks, and other institutions are using automated data analysis systems to make decisions about your life. Let’s not leave it up to the algorithm makers to decide whether they’re doing it appropriately.
  Categorized in 17036
- A Job Plan for Robots and Humans
  Melonee Wise’s startup Fetch Robotics employs about 50 people and more than 125 robots. She intends to create many more jobs for both.
  Categorized in 17036
- The President of Search Giant Baidu Has Global Plans
  Ya-Qin Zhang expects investments in artificial intelligence and other technologies to help turn his company into a global leader.
  Categorized in 17036
- The Inevitable EV
  Four decades ago, the electric car looked set to be an acceptable commuting vehicle within a few years.
  Categorized in 17037
- Who Is Winning the AI Race?
  China and the United States dominate the world of artificial-intelligence research. Microsoft, IBM, and Google are the leading companies.
  Categorized in 17032

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