The list of the 50 most disruptive companies of the year is an MIT initiative that recognizes those that have stood out the most during the year, either for strengthening their market position, or for the challenge they introduce to the position of leaders, or simply because they open up a new and emerging market (See here). I really don’t think anyone is surprised that no Basque company is currently in this select club, but the most relevant question is not this, but whether we are really putting into play the necessary instruments so that we are available within a reasonable period of time that one is selected, or that there is at least a group of companies/entrepreneurs that could perfectly enter the fray to be so.
And the question is not trivial. Firstly, because these innovative companies create employment in the short term; among all those in the group, they employ more than 2,700,000 people and only the most recently created, established as of 2010, employ more than 10,000 people. Secondly, because it is more than likely that among these companies are the new business champions of the second half of the 21st century, those who really have the potential to make a difference and open new paths of prosperity and sustainability for the world with solutions. for energy storage, for the integration of renewables, the cure and personalized treatment of important diseases… And in view of the data, it is very unlikely that these companies are located in Europe (only 6 of the 50 most innovative are in Europe) and it is most probable that they will continue in the United States, which concentrates almost 3 quarters of the most disruptive companies. Finally, because it is not an impossible challenge, as demonstrated by the Kenyan company Safaricom, which has managed to gain a foothold in the competitive world of financial intermediation, ingeniously applying the new trends in mobility and the Internet, or the biotechnological company china BGI that offers genomic sequencing services that are overshadowing those of companies in more developed countries.
Honestly, with what we do we will have to settle for hoping and trusting luck, but it is also likely that the growing and increasingly palpable awareness of the structural crisis that we face will facilitate the great economic and social transformations that are necessary and that go far beyond the savings and cutback programs that we face.
- To invest generously in science and technology, to ensure that excellence is more the rule than the exception, and to be at the forefront in those areas that are key to our business and social future.
- For our basic and university education system to make a great qualitative leap to become a cultural vanguard, and to be a key agent in promoting talent and entrepreneurship.
- To offer young people a society that really gives priority to entrepreneurship and offers especially favorable conditions for those who are willing to assume the personal risk that business creation entails.
- So that our companies, which have been champions of quality and operational efficiency, find the right course in the stormy global world in which our competitiveness will hardly come only by making it cheaper, but by doing different things.< /li>
The 50 Most Innovative Disruptive Companies of 2013. MIT Technology Review
Company (alphabetical order) Year Created Employment Country Description ABB 1833
145,000
Switzerland Perfecting a circuit breaker for high-voltage DC lines-a crucial step for widespread use of renewable energy. Air 2010
65
USA Streaming local TV programs to mobile devices, filling a void left by broadcasters who have essentially ignored the Internet. Upper Devices 2007
80
USA Advancing ultra-efficient solar. The military will use Alta’s flexible sheets to provide portable power to drones and soldiers. Amazon 1994
51,300
USA Cranking up the appeal of purchasing goods online by offering same-day delivery in some places. Ambri 2010
26
USA Making a battery for storing energy on power grids. Its molten electrodes quickly absorb large amounts of electricity. Apple 1976
73,000
USA Improving displays by extending its Retina technology from small screens to MacBooks and iPads. Aquion Energy 2013
103
USA Beginning to sell a novel kind of battery that it can manufacture cheaply; utilities could use it for grid storage. ARM Holding 1990
2,300
UK Becoming a bigger factor in computing as it expands from mobile chip designs into tablet, PC, and server processors. Audi 1909
68,000
Germany Pushing autonomous cars closer to fruition with a laser-scanning road detector that fits in a vehicle’s front grille. BGI 1999
4,000
China Sequencing more genomes than anyone else and becoming a worldwide provider of genome services. Bright Source energy 2004
400
USA Opening the biggest solar plant where mirrors reflect light onto a tower to generate steam. Corning 1851
29,000
USA Producing a new kind of glass that is thin and flexible yet strong enough to be used in touch-screen devices. Coursera 2010
40
USA Making college courses available free online and developing ways to adjust them to students’ individual needs. CrowdStrike 2011
75
USA Introducing a new kind of antivirus software that’s better at detecting attacks and identifying their sources. Diagnostics For All 2007
18
USA Making inexpensive diagnostic tests on paper, which could greatly benefit poor countries. Dow Chemical 1897
54,000
USA Commercializing roof shingles that incorporate photovoltaic materials and thus double as cheaply installed solar panels. Facebook 2004
4,619
USA Figuring out how to correlate online and offline activity, which should lead to novel advertising methods. Factual 2007
60
USA Collecting and analyzing big data sets to create stores of knowledge that can inform many kinds of software. Foundation Medicine 2010
90
USA Offering a genetic test that helps doctors select the right drugs for cancer patients. General Electric 1890
305,000
USA Helping utilities make use of wind and solar. A new GE gas turbine ramps up quickly when greener power isn’t available. Google 1997
53,861
USA Running the most widely used smartphone software, which has greatly expanded the competition for devices. IBM 1911
433,000
USA Pushing the physical boundaries of computing with technologies including circuits that transmit data with light. Illumina 1998
2,100
USA Driving down the cost of DNA sequencing and creating new diagnostics markets for genomics. InMobi 2007
800
Singapore Challenging Google and Apple in the market for mobile ads. InMobi sells, distributes, and helps make the ads. Intel 1968
105,000
USA Surpassing rivals in the performance of mobile processors, even though it still trails badly in market share. Kymeta 2012
30
USA Developing relatively small antennas that replace satellite dishes so planes and trains can get better broadband service. Leap Motion 2010
50
USA Bringing gesture control to any computer. Leap’s $70 controller responds to pinches, grabs, and swipes in the air. MC10 2008
30
USA Pioneering stretchable electronics with applications in sports and medicine, like an impact-sensing skullcap. Microsoft 1975
94,000
USA Combining traditional computing with touch technology. Windows 8 could influence the PC and mobile markets. MLB Advanced Media 2000
600
USA Expanding the delivery of live baseball and other sports video to mobile devices. Mozilla 1998
700
USA Bringing the smartphone revolution to more poor countries with Firefox OS, which is based on Web technology. Nest 2010
170
USA Marketing a thermostat that learns users’ temperature preferences and maximizes efficiency as it implements them. Novartis 1996
127,774
Switzerland Developing a continuous drug-manufacturing process that could combine compounds quickly and in novel ways. Nuance Comm 1992
10,000
USA Creating new applications for speech recognition technology, from cars to video games. Path 2010
52
USA Demonstrating an alternative business model for social networking: selling users extra services. Phillips 1891
118,000
Netherlands Making efficient LED light bulbs affordable and more useful. One new bulb can be controlled by phones and tablets. Pinterest 2010
80
USA Creating a social network centered on collecting and finding images of desired products and experiences. Rethink Robotics 2008
USA Broadening the use of robotics in manufacturing. Its robots are easily taught and can work safely alongside humans. Safaricom 1997
3,591
Kenya Extending the use of the mobile currency M-Pesa in Kenya. Its new mobile lending service challenges banks. Samsung 1938
235,000
South Korea Leading the market for smartphones and making a tablet that is one of the few credible challengers to the iPad. Semprius 2005
65
USA Using a novel method of concentrating sunlight through tiny lenses to increase the efficiency of solar power. Siemens 1847
370,000
Germany Developing batteries and wind technologies that will be crucial in Germany’s plan to rely more heavily on renewable power. SpaceX 2002
2,000
USA Launching the private space-flight business. Its rockets are making new space-based businesses possible. Square 2009
450
USA Streamlining transactions. A Square mobile app lets you pay for things just by speaking your anme to a store clerk. Tencent 1998
China Dominating Chinese social media. The company’s version of Twitter is hugely influential in political affairs. Toyota 1937
326,000
Japan Expanding its dominance of the hybrid-car market with its new plug-in version of the Prius. UniQure 1997
75
Denmark Restoring the promise of gene therapy. The Dutch company has approval to treat a rare metabolic disorder. Vidyo 2004
250
USA Threatening the likes of Cisco by using a compression technology to enable high-def video conferencing on smartphones. Vmware 1998
13,000
USA Making cloud services more powerful with software-defined networking, a technology it gained by buying startup Nicira. Xerox 1906
140,000
USA Automating urban services. A Xerox system in Los Angeles changes the price of parking spots as demand fluctuates.