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- 65% of strong innovators mine big data or social networks for ideas.
- Apple, Google, Tesla, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, Samsung, Toyota, Facebook, and IBM are BCG’s ten most innovative companies of 2016.
- Facebook and Dupont both jumped 19 positions in 2016.
- 4 of the top 10 most innovative companies in 2016 are entirely cloud-based.
- Uber, Airbnb, Under Armour, Regeneron, Expedia, SpaceX, Hilton, NTT Docomo, Orange and Bristol-Myers Squibb are included for the first time.
These and many other insights are from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) 2016 analysis and list of the most innovative companies of 2016.Their report, The Most Innovative Companies 2016, Getting Past “Not Invented Here” (20 pp., PDF, no opt-in) is available here.
Forbes also has an annual list of the world’s most innovative companies you can find here. The methodology Forbes uses is explained in the post, How We Rank The Most Innovative Companies 2016.
BCG’s 11th Annual Survey underscores how the world’s most innovative companies have learned how to create entirely new business models faster than competitors, translating that speed into global scale. Two new entrants to BCG’s annual list, Uber, and Airbnb, are examples of companies capitalizing on their unique multisided platforms to grow fast and scale globally. An excellent book on how multisided platforms are proliferating is Matchmakers: The New Economics of Multisided Platforms by David S. Evans and Rochard Schmalensee.
Key insights from the Boston Consulting Group annual study of innovative companies include the following:
- Four of the top 10 most innovative companies are cloud-based businesses. These include Google, Amazon, Netflix and Facebook. Two of the top 10 are investing heavily in cloud technologies, platforms, services and apps (Microsoft and IBM). The following graphic lists BCG;s 2016 most innovative companies.
- Strong innovators are 4.5X more likely to be adept at leveraging Big Data and analytics for providing support for inputs to ideation. 65% of strong innovators mine big data or social networks for ideas. The following graphic compares how strong versus weak innovations rate their company’s skill at leveraging Big Data and advanced analytics for each phase of the innovation process. Being able to gain insights faster than competitors and act on them is a topic David S. Evans and Rochard Schmalensee often mention in their book.
- BCG found that the most innovative companies have exceptional skills and insights into how to make the most of the multiple data sources within and outside their organization. The study highlights how companies who ranked high in innovation are adept at making the most of global patents, scientific literature, semantic networks and venture funding databases. Strong innovators also can use external data throughout each phase of the innovation process, supporting new ideas to providing insights into investment decisions. The following two figures provide insights into the differences between strong and weak innovators regarding their sources of new projects and ideas.
