In this article, we will take a look at the most innovative companies of all time. If you want to explore similar companies, you can go to 5 Most Innovative Companies of All Time.
Humans have been innovating since they first stepped foot on Earth. For any civilization, innovation was a milestone that changed the way of living. Today’s competitive market environment heavily depends on innovation. Entrepreneurs are constantly looking for unconventional ways to design new products and services to overcome old solutions. With the saturation of global markets, innovation has become critical across all industries. Innovation is a time taking process that requires a thorough understanding of the business idea and proper implementation.
As we mentioned earlier, innovation has become a buzzword since the launch of Apple’s first iPhone and it still circulates in the market, the media, and schools. Companies are focused on innovation more than ever before and it has become a prime target for executives. Startup is a new fancy name in the business world and the hype around this word is surreal. You can’t understand the dynamics of a startup unless you work on a business idea. There are chances of failure and businesses that entered the market have experienced both success and failure. For instance, Quibi is one of the biggest startup failures in recent times. The short-form American streaming platform generated $1.75 billion from venture capitalists and media houses in two funding rounds. It was a few weeks before the target launch of Quibi when the world went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 6, 2020, Quibi launched its streaming platform in the U.S. and Canada. The company went on to release its streaming platform undermining the sudden shift in the market following the pandemic. A few months later on October 22, Quibi decided to quit its operations. Quibi’s founders pointed out the pandemic to be the root cause of its failure. However, it was the wrong decision-making of the founders which led to a collapse of such a massive investment. Therefore, running a startup and bringing innovation to the market isn’t that simple. It requires building up a corporate setup that demands patience, right timing, and a lot of resources. Elon Musk in a podcast with Lex Fridman said, “What matters is the pace of innovation, access to resources, and raw materials.”
Why Innovation?
For a company, innovation is a tool through which it survives the competition. Creativity is the key aspect of innovation and in business, creativity cultivates unique ideas. Creative ideas play a viable role in producing solutions to problems. However, creative ideas don’t guarantee innovation, but for an idea to be innovative, it must be useful for the consumer. James Chin Moody who holds a Ph.D. in innovation theory believes that innovation is not a noun but rather a process of technological change. Moody who is the CEO of Australian package delivery company, Sendle, while talking to CNBC Make It said:
“Innovation is the process of creating the thing, yes, but that’s such a small fraction. It’s the process of taking the thing and convincing someone that they need the thing. The process in the middle is really what we mean when we talk about innovation.”
In the modern world, every company has adopted innovation in the form of technology. In the context of business, innovation conceives, develops, delivers, and scales new products and services. In an episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, McKinsey’s senior partner Laura Furstenthal defined innovation in a corporate setup:
“If you look up ‘innovation’ in a dictionary, you see definitions like creating novel ideas or even just the word ‘creativity.’ We believe you have to think about the impact, so our definition of innovation incorporates delivering net new growth that is sustainable, repeatable, and substantial. You can focus on new products, markets, customers, or business models, but however you measure it, innovation has to increase value and drive growth.”
As we mentioned earlier, value innovation is really important for a company’s survival. Value innovation comprises the introduction of new products and minimization of costs at the same time. Every company once started with a small setup and grew bigger with time. In McKinsey’s research on the existence of innovation “essentials,” the study focused on how competent 183 companies were at innovation. The research compared those companies with a proprietary database of economic profit, which was net profit subtracted from the cost of capital. The study revealed that companies that adopted innovation had a significant advantage over their peers. The companies with the most innovation essentials generated higher economic profit, up to 2.4 times higher than other players.
Contemporary Innovation
Automotive, technology, biotechnology, and healthcare and pharmaceutical industries comprise some of the most innovative companies worldwide. Technology is a diversified segment including computer and information technology. Computer technology has evolved over the past few years and semiconductors chips are the key to the innovation of this segment, thanks to advancements in semiconductor technology. In today’s world, almost everything we own and operate on a daily basis has semiconductors in it. Semiconductors have really lifted the game of processors in the computing world.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) are two of the leading semiconductor chip makers in the market. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) has been doing a remarkable job as the company continues to move uphill. The semiconductor company is set to announce its second quarter results on August 23. Analysts are really interested in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and have raised their targets ahead of earnings. UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri lifted NVIDIA’s stock price target to $540 from $475. Similarly, Wells Fargo has also upgraded its price target to $500 from $450. Analysts are bullish on the stock and Morgan Stanley has named NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) as its “top pick.” “We think it’s hard to bet against NVDA’s preeminent positioning as the primary beneficiary of an AI-driven architectural data center transformation,” wrote Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers in his research note. The semiconductor giant has been under the radar this year, driven by optimism around its potential for AI and demand for its components. Global firms and governments are seeking NVIDIA chips for the all-important build-up of AI software. E-commerce giant Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has been using NVIDIA Corporation’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) GPUs to power Amazon Web Services. AWS and NVIDIA have been in partnership for more than 10 years and have developed solutions for virtual workstations, machine learning, high-performance computing, and IoT services. On March 21, AWS and NVIDIA joined hands to build the world’s most scalable, on-demand AI system that will solve complex large language models and create generative AI applications. On May 23, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) collaborated to accelerate their AI initiatives. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will integrate NVIDIA’s AI Enterprise software into its Azure Machine Learning. This will allow Azure customers to speed up their production, deployment, and management of customized applications through 100 NVIDIA AI frameworks and NVIDIA AI Enterprise. Whereas Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is keeping up with the chipmaker and is aiming to create a bigger ecosystem that is more power-efficient than Nvidia’s chip. Google has built its custom chip called the Tensor Processing Unit. The chip is handling 90% of the company’s work on AI training. On April 4, Cornell University published a paper in which Google claimed to have a 1.7 times faster and 1.9 times more power-efficient system compared to Nvidia’s A100 chip. These tech giants are really shaping the future and innovating technology through AI and semiconductors.
The demand for semiconductors is continuing to rise and electric cars are one of the biggest semiconductor marketplaces. Electric cars are highly dependent on semiconductor chips. The innovation in semiconductor technology potentially offers longer battery life for EVs. Moreover, the chips make the EV system smarter and safer to provide risk-free rides. EVs are using AI and semiconductors simultaneously to improve the ecosystem of electric cars for their passengers. Moreover, semiconductors are also being used at the backend of systems to support the software of EVs. Elon Musk has hinted that Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is highly dependent on NVIDIA Corporation’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) chips. Here are some of the comments from Tesla Inc.’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Q2 2023 earnings call:
“You see a lot of AI companies doing LLMs and whatnot. I would say if they’re so great, why can’t they make a self-driving car? Because it’s harder. That’s why. So — but I do think — I think there’s some great AI companies out there. But just fundamentally, the staggering amount of data we’ve got to process, it’s got to be processed somehow. And custom silicon is the best way to do that.
So that’s what Dojo is designed to do is optimize for video training. It’s not optimized for LLMs. It’s optimized for video training. With video training, you have a much higher ratio of compute-to-memory bandwidth, so — whereas LLMs tends to be memory bandwidth choked. So that’s it. I mean — but like I said, we’re also — we have some — we’re using a lot of NVIDIA hardware. We’ll continue to — we’ll actually take NVIDIA hardware as fast as NVIDIA will deliver it to us. Tremendous respect for Jensen and NVIDIA. They’ve done an incredible job.
And frankly, I don’t know if they could deliver us enough GPUs, we might not need Dojo, but they can’t. So they’ve got so many customers. They’ve been kind enough to, nonetheless, prioritize some of our GPU orders. But yes, the sheer magnitude of video training — because like I said, we’re not trying to just get as good as human. We want to get to 10 times better than human, maybe 100 times better than human.”
Whereas NVIDIA Corporation’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) counterpart Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) is planning to reveal a new series of Radeon graphics cards. The senior vice president of AMD, Scott Herkelman in a tweet mentioned that the chip maker is set to make major announcements at Gamescom. Herkelman didn’t point out any specifics about the announcements. However, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMD) CEO Lisa Su during the Q1 2023 earnings call said that they were on track to launch the GPU ramp of MI300 in Q4 2023.
“And then I would say, from an overall market standpoint, I think enterprise will still be mixed with the notion that we expect some improvement. It depends a little bit on the macro situation. And then as we go into the second half of the year, in addition to Genoa, we’re also ramping Bergamo. So that’s on track to launch here in the second quarter and will ramp in the second half of the year. And then as we get towards the end of the year, we also have our GPU ramp of MI300. So with that, we start the ramp in the fourth quarter of our supercomputing wins as well as our early cloud AI wins. So those are all the factors. Of course, we’ll have to see how the the year play about how we’re positioned from an overall product and road map standpoint for Data Center.”
While innovation is usually linked to technological advancements, there are companies outside of the tech sector that are and have been innovating in their respective domains for decades now. Let’s take a look at some of the most innovative companies of all time.
Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock.com
Our Methodology
We took the 25 companies from the most innovative companies list published by four sources including Forbes, BCG, and PwC. We ranked the companies based on their appearance in a number of sources and average scores. So, the company that appeared in all four sources and had the least average score on the list was ranked higher, and so on. The average score was calculated by simply summing up the ranks of each company in each source and then dividing it by the number of sources. This had the effect of assigning a greater average score to companies that were ranked lower in our sources and similarly assigning a lower average score to companies that were ranked at the top. The companies with an equal number of sources and average scores are ranked based on the highest ranking given in the references. Here is the list of the 25 most innovative companies of all time.
25 Most Innovative Companies Of All Time
25. Mercedes Benz Group AG (ETR:MBG)
Average Score: 37
No. of Sources: 2
Mercedes-Benz Group AG (ETR:MBG) is a multinational automotive company leading the market with its automobiles. The automotive giant has pioneered some of the top-end advancements in the industry since 1886. Carl Benz, the founder of Mercedes-Benz Group AG (ETR:MBG), invented the first stationary gasoline engine, a one-cylinder two-stroke unit, which made its first public outing in July 1886. The German company ranks 25th on our list of the most innovative companies of all time.
Companies that are leading the innovation of today include NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG).
24. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (ETR:BMW)
Average Score: 37
No. of Sources: 2
Famously known as BMW, the German luxury car maker is one of the leading automotive companies in the world. In 1916, the foundations of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (ETR:BMW) were initiated by the merging of Flugmaschinenfabrik Gustav Otto Company and Bayerische Flugzeug-werke AG. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG was finally introduced as a public company in 1918. BMW unveiled its first vehicle, a R32 motorcycle in a motor show in Berlin in 1923. BMW started making cars in 1928 and its first offering was a “Dixi” named BMW 3/15. Since then, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (ETR:BMW) has been innovating and is now working on its electric vehicle models. BMW makes it to our list of the most innovative companies of all time.
23. Glencore PLC (LON:GLEN)
Average Score: 31.5
No. of Sources: 2
Founded in 1974, Glencore PLC (LON:GLEN) went public for trading on the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges in 2011. The company is one of the most diversified natural resource corporations worldwide. With its diversified portfolio, Glencore PLC (LON:GLEN) has made huge progress in the minerals and metals sector. Over the years, Glencore has advanced its share through various acquisitions. Glencore PLC (LON:GLEN) ranks among the most innovative companies of all time.
22. General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM)
Average Score: 31.5
No. of Sources: 2
General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) was incorporated in 1908 after the agreement of Buick and Oldsmobile. The automaker has had a lot of influence through different innovations over the past century. In the 1920s, the company introduced a successful Lacquer paint system for cars. General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) is one of the pioneers of airbag technology with the introduction of the air cushion restraint system in 1973. With advancement through its R&D, General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) is ranked 22nd on our list of the most innovative companies of all time.
21. Unilever PLC (LON:ULVR)
Average Score: 28
No. of Sources: 2
Unilever PLC (LON:ULVR) is one of the largest consumer product sellers in the world. The company was founded in 1929 after the merger of British soap maker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie. Unilever PLC (LON:ULVR) has more than 400 brands and servers across 190 countries. The multinational consumer products company is one of the most innovative companies of all time.
20. Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG)
Average Score: 25
No. of Sources: 2
Another multinational consumer giant, Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) was founded by William Procter and James Gamble in 1837. It is one of the oldest companies operating today. James N. Gamble created an innovative single bar of soap that could be used for both bathing and laundry. It is one of the most iconic inventions of the company. Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) is placed 20th on our list of the most innovative companies of all time.
19. Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)
Average Score: 23
No. of Sources: 2
The founder of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) came up with the idea to have a store that offers lowest prices anytime, anywhere. On July 2, 1962, Sam Walton opened the first Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) store in Rogers, Arkansas. Since its inception, the company has upgraded from time to time and now it is one of the largest retailers in the world. Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is among the most innovative companies of all time.
18. Merck & Co Inc. (NYSE:MRK)
Average Score: 22.5
No. of Sources: 2
On January 1, 1891, Merck & Co Inc. (NYSE:MRK) was founded in the U.S. In 1899, the company published the first “Merck Manual” which pointed out the treatments for acute bronchitis, almond bread for diabetes, and arsenic for impotence. Later, Merck Manual became one of the classical sources for medical references. In 1936, the pharmaceutical company synthesized vitamin B and its development led to mass production of the vitamin, resulting in the reduction of vitamin B deficiency. Over the years, Merck & Co Inc. (NYSE:MRK) has contributed significantly to the healthcare sector. The multinational pharmaceutical firm makes it to our list of the most innovative companies of all time.
17. Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (TADAWUL:2222)
Average Score: 22.5
No. of Sources: 2
Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (TADAWUL:2222), also known as Saudi Aramco is the largest oil company in the world. The trillion-dollar oil company was founded in 1933 when it started its exploration in Saudi Arabia’s eastern province. Aramco is working on modern technology to enhance the oil exploration process such as the Internet of Things, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), blockchain, and cloud computing, among others. Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (TADAWUL:2222) is also developing hardware innovations including unmanned aerial vehicles (AUVs) and a drone sensor technology that creates a model of layers beneath Earth’s surface. Saudi Arabia’s oil company ranks 17th among the most innovative companies of all time.
16. Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL)
Average Score: 21.5
No. of Sources: 2
Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) is one of the largest tech companies in the world. Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, and Ed Oates founded the software firm in 1977. The very next year, Oracle Version 1 was launched which helped in avoiding unbudgeted cost and license compliance issues. However, it was never launched for commercial use. The first commercial system released by Oracle was its Version 2 in 1979. Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) is ranked among the most innovative companies of all time.
15. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F)
Average Score: 19.5
No. of Sources: 2
Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) and incorporated the company on June 16, 1903. One of the first cars built by Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) was the 1903 Model A. The car had innovative features such as a safety glass windshield. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) had sold over five million units of Model A by 1931. The American automotive firm is one of the most innovative companies of all time.
14. Celgene Corporation
Average Score: 18
No. of Sources: 2
Celgene Corporation was founded in 1986 and is known for its cancer and immunology drugs. Celgene’s most renowned product is Revlimid which is used for treating multiple myeloma, and also in certain anemias. On November 20, 2019, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) completed the acquisition of, then publicly traded, Celgene Corporation. Celgene now operates as a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY). Celgene Corporation makes it to our list of the most innovative companies of all time.
13. Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM)
Average Score: 17.5
No. of Sources: 2
On November 30, 1999, Exxon and Mobil joined to form Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM). It was one of the most iconic mergers in the oil industry. Today, it is one of the leading oil exploration companies in the world. The company is combining various technologies to enhance oil exploration. In 2009, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM) opened a greenhouse facility in collaboration with Viridos. The partnership has helped the oil company to produce more than double of oil content without major strain growth. One of the most innovative companies of all time, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM) ranks 13th on our list.
12. Shell PLC (LON:SHEL)
Average Score: 16
No. of Sources: 2
Before the incorporation of Shell PLC (LON:SHEL), the company operated in the trade and transport sector in the oil market, creating a revolution in the industry. Shell brands painted their cans red and this tactic reaped them high earnings during the last quarter of the 19th century. In 1907, the merger of Shell Transport and Trading Company with Royal Dutch introduced the Royal Dutch Shell Group. Later, the name of the company was shortened to Shell. Shell PLC (LON:SHEL) is one of the historic oil companies and ranks among the most innovative companies of all time.
11. Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Average Score: 15
No. of Sources: 2
Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in February 2004. It soon became one of the most used social applications in the world. After a huge success, Facebook continued to develop its marketplace worldwide. On October 28, 2021, Zuckerberg renamed the company Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) to add more meaning to the company. Meta Platforms is a diversification of Facebook into a bigger ecosystem of the metaverse. On our list of the most innovative companies of all time, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is ranked 11th.
10. Siemens AG (ETR:SIE)
Average Score: 15
No. of Sources: 2
One of the most successful tech companies, Siemens AG (ETR:SIE) has traveled a long way. Since its incorporation in 1847, Siemens AG (ETR:SIE) has introduced revolutionary products. With the invention of the pointer telegraph, the company made an important contribution to shaping the modern age of communication as it exists today. Siemens has been involved in several other inventions including X-ray, diagnostics, and therapy. Siemens AG (ETR:SIE) is one of the most innovative companies of all time.
9. Roche Holding AG Genussscheine (SWX:ROG)
Average Score: 14.5
No. of Sources: 2
Roche Holding AG Genussscheine (SWX:ROG) is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical firm that operates worldwide. Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche founded the company on October 1, 1896. Roche believed that medicine manufacturing needs to be scaled at the industrial level in order to fight against diseases. The first invention of Roche Holding AG Genussscheine (SWX:ROG) was the research on the presence of iodine in thyroid extracts. The company was able to receive its first patent after this research and introduce Aiodin to fight against thyroid. Swiss Pharma is ranked 9th on our list of the most innovative companies of all time.
8. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)
Average Score: 10.5
No. of Sources: 2
Robert Wood Johnson worked in the healthcare sector before he founded Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). In 1886, along with his younger brother Edward Mead and James Wood, Robert Wood Johnson launched the company. Since then the American multinational corporation has grown into a medical, pharmaceutical, and consumer goods giant. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) first mass-produced sterile surgical supplies. It ranks among the most innovative companies of all time.
7. Volkswagen Group (ETR:VOW3)
Average Score: 10
No. of Sources: 2
Volkswagen Group (ETR:VOW3) began with “Käfer” in 1934. On May 28, 1937, the company was formally launched and in 1938, the name changed to Volkswagenwerk GmbH. The company owns some of the top luxury car brands including Bugatti, Audi, Bentley, Porsche, ŠKODA, Lamborghini, Ducati, MAN, SEAT, and Scania. Volkswagen Group (ETR:VOW3) has been working with Amazon Web Services to develop the Volkswagen Industrial Cloud. The German automobile giant is creating a new era for digitally networked production around the world. Volkswagen was one of the first auto manufacturers that introduced an automatic parking system for its cars: Park Assist. In the early 1990s, the company played a vital role in designing the modern parking aid system in vehicles. Volkswagen Group (ETR:VOW3) is ranked seventh on our list of the most innovative companies of all time.
6. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KRX:005930)
Average Score: 5.5
No. of Sources: 2
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KRX:005930) makes it to our list of the most innovative companies of all time. It is one of the leading electronics corporations in the world. The company is famous for its electric appliances and smartphone series “Galaxy”. After Samsung’s incorporation in 1969, the company launched its first black-and-white TV and soon became a leading TV brand in the market. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KRX:005930) is also working on semiconductor technology.
In addition to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KRX:005930), other prominent tech companies that are at the forefront of innovation include NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG).
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Disclosure: None. 25 Most Innovative Companies of All Time is originally published on Insider Monkey.
