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This article was first published 11 years ago

Most innovative companies in the world

Last updated on: February 22, 2013 08:21 IST


Photographs: Courtesy InMobi

Bangalore based mobile advertising company InMobi has made it to MIT Technology Review's 50 Disruptive Companies of 2013. The only Indian company to feature on the list, InMobi is challenging Google and Apple in the market for mobile ads.

MIT Technology Review's list is meant to capture the ways innovations are commercialised. The list is not based on market performance, patents filed or R&D spend. It does not rank any of the companies either.

Rather, it identifies global companies that are pushing the envelope of current business models to drive innovation and create significant impact in the market.

The only Indian company, InMobi, offers mobile advertising solutions and reaches 578 million global mobile users in over 165 countries.

Naveen Tewari and Amit Gupta founded the company in 2007 as an an SMS-based search platform. It was earlier known as mKhoj.

Here are some of the well-known innovators among the list of 50. The following list does not contains all the names.

InMobi

Challenging Google and Apple in the market for mobile ads. InMobi sells, distributes, and helps make the ads.

Founded: 2007

Headquarters: Singapore (founded in Bangalore)

Employees: Over 800

Funding raised: $215.5 million

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Image: An employee works on the production of high-power semiconductors at a manufacturing plant of ABB.
Photographs: Michael Buholzer/Reuters

ABB

Perfecting a circuit breaker for high-voltage DC lines - a crucial step for widespread use of renewable energy.

Founded: 1883

Headquarters: Zurich, Switzerland

Employees: 145,000

Market capitalisation: $49 billion

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Image: Work is carried out at Amazon's logistics centre in Graben near Augsburg.
Photographs: Michael Dalder/Reuters

Amazon

Cranking up the appeal of purchasing goods online by offering same-day delivery in some places.

Founded: 1994

Headquarters: Seattle, Washington

Employees: More than 51,300

Market capitalisation: $122 billion

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Image: A woman takes a photo of models using an Apple iPad.
Photographs: Joshua Lott/Reuters

Apple

Improving displays by extending its Retina technology from small screens to MacBooks and iPads.

Founded: 1976

Headquarters: Cupertino, California

Employees: 73,000

Market capitalisation: $440 billion

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Image: A worker examines a circuit board at an Apple's contract manufacturer. Apple chips are based on ARM's architecture.
Photographs: Bobby Yip/Reuters

ARM Holdings

Becoming a bigger factor in computing as it expands from mobile chip designs into tablet, PC, and server processors.

Founded: 1990

Headquarters: Cambridge, United Kingdom

Employees: over 2,300

Market capitalisation: $20 billion

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Image: A worker for German car manufacturer Audi stands next to an R8 Audi e-tron.
Photographs: Ralph Orlowski/Reuters

Audi

Pushing autonomous cars closer to fruition with a laser-scanning road detector that fits in a vehicle's front grille.

Founded: 1909

Headquarters: Ingolstadt, Germany

Employees: 68,000

Market capitalisation: $34 billion

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Image: A man walks by an advertisement for Corning Gorilla Glass 3 outside the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Photographs: Steve Marcus/Reuters

Corning

Producing a new kind of glass that is thin and flexible yet strong enough to be used in touch-screen devices.

Founded: 1851

Headquarters: Corning, New York

Employees: 29,000

Market capitalisation: $19 billion

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Image: A photographer takes a picture of solar panels.
Photographs: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

Dow Chemical

Commercialising roof shingles that incorporate photovoltaic materials and thus double as cheaply installed solar panels.

Founded: 1897

Headquarters: Midland, Michigan

Employees: 54,000

Market capitalisation: $45 billion

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Image: Facebook executives attend a news conference.
Photographs: Jumana El-Heloueh/Reuters

Facebook

Figuring out how to correlate online and offline activity, which should lead to novel advertising methods.

Founded: 2004

Headquarters: Menlo Park, California

Employees: 4,619

Market capitalisation: $67 billion

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Image: US President Barack Obama (C) passes a turbine as he tours General Electric's birthplace in Schenectady, New York.
Photographs: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

General Electric

Helping utilities make use of wind and solar. A new GE gas turbine ramps up quickly when greener power isn't available.

Founded: 1890

Headquarters: Fairfield, Connecticut

Employees: 305,000

Market capitalisation: $245 billion

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Image: The entrance to the kitchen is seen at the new Google office in Toronto.
Photographs: Mark Blinch/Reuters

Google

Running the most widely used smartphone software, which has greatly expanded the competition for devices.

Founded: 1997

Headquarters: Mountain View, California

Employees: 53,861

Market capitalisation: $260 billion

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Image: The IBM logo is seen outside the company's offices in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv.
Photographs: Nir Elias/Reuters

IBM

Pushing the physical boundaries of computing with technologies including circuits that transmit data with light.

Founded: 1911

Headquarters: Armonk, New York

Employees: 433,000

Market capitalisation: $226 billion

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Image: People walk past the Intel stand at the Gulf Information and Technology Exhibition.
Photographs: Reuters

Intel

Surpassing rivals in the performance of mobile processors, even though it still trails badly in market share.

Founded: 1968

Headquarters: Santa Clara, California

Employees: 105,000

Market capitalisation: $106 billion

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Image: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer speaks during the launch of Windows Phone 8 in San Francisco, California.
Photographs: Robert Galbraith/Reuters

Microsoft

Combining traditional computing with touch technology. Windows 8 could influence the PC and mobile markets.

Founded: 1975

Headquarters: Redmond, Washington

Employees: 94,000

Market capitalisation: $235 billion

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Image: Mozilla Corporation CEO Gary Kovacs addresses attendees during the International CTIA WIRELESS Conference & Exposition.
Photographs: Sean Gardner/Reuters

Mozilla

Bringing the smartphone revolution to more poor countries with Firefox OS, which is based on Web technology.

Founded: 1998

Headquarters: Mountain View, California

Employees: 700

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Image: A man walks past the logo of Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG.
Photographs: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

Novartis

Developing a continuous drug-manufacturing process that could combine compounds quickly and in novel ways.

Founded: 1996

Headquarters: Basel, Switzerland

Employees: 127,724

Market capitalisation: $166 billion

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Image: The logo of Philips is seen at the company's entrance in Brussels.
Photographs: Francois Lenoir/Reuters

Philips

Making efficient LED light bulbs affordable and more useful. One new bulb can be controlled by phones and tablets.

Founded: 1891

Headquarters: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Employees: 118,000

Market capitalisation: $28 billion

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Image: The website is seen on different devices.
Photographs: Courtesy, Pinterest

Pinterest

Creating a social network centred on collecting and finding images of desired products and experiences.

Founded: 2010

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Employees: 80

Funding raised: $137.5 million

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Image: Students walk out of a showroom at the headquarters of Samsung Electronics in Seoul.
Photographs: Jo Yong-Hak/Reuters

Samsung

Leading the market for smartphones and making a tablet that is one of the few credible challengers to the iPad.

Founded: 1938

Headquarters: Seoul, South Korea

Employees: 235,000

Market capitalisation: $202 billion

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Image: The logo of Siemens AG company is pictured atop a factory in Berlin.
Photographs: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters

Siemens

Developing batteries and wind technologies that will be crucial in Germany's plan to rely more heavily on renewable power.

Founded: 1847

Headquarters: Munich, Germany

Employees: 370,000

Market capitalisation: N/A

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Image: The Toyota logo is lit up above Boch Toyota's dealership in Norwood, Massachusetts.
Photographs: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Toyota

Expanding its dominance of the hybrid-car market with its new plug-in version of the Prius.

Founded: 1937

Headquarters: Toyota City, Japan

Employees: 326,000

Market capitalisation: $160 billion

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Image: The entrance to Xerox headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
Photographs: Chip East/Reuters

Xerox

Automating urban services. A Xerox system in Los Angeles changes the price of parking spots as demand fluctuates.

Founded: 1906

Headquarters: Norwalk, Connecticut

Employees: 140,000

Market capitalisation: $10 billion

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