To be blunt, construction projects are a pain. Ongoing labor shortages, cash flow issues, poor communication, and a strained supply chain are all weighing on the industry and can set projects back months. There are also the issues of waste and environmental changes due to climate change to address. This year, our honorees are innovating with everything from helping renters build credit scores to reducing water waste.
Epic Cleantec
For recycling onsite waste
Technological innovation doesn’t only happen at the latest startups. These companies have been in business for at least 15 years but are still using cutting-edge technology to deliver results for their customers and business partners. In fields from entertainment technology to government contracting and logistics, their innovations are offering customers new, faster, and more reliable options to get things done.
Arkadium
For giving video game makers a
Equipment has always needed maintenance. We’ve been booking travel online for years. Even using speech recognition to create on-screen captions is not exactly a breakthrough new technology. But all of these established activities have room for improvement, and these companies—each with between 500 and 999 employees—show how it’s done.
Aquant
For keeping complex equipment maintained
For essential equipment such as medical devices and power generators,
People within organizations charged with harnessing innovation have always had to consider a technology’s practicality, maturity, and ROI. And today, as AI and computing power smash through assumptions about the limitations of technology, the same executives must increasingly consider implications that include regulations, ethics, social responsibility, sustainability, and societal impact. These technologists brought that kind of thinking to their work in 2024.
Andy Parsons
Among the 130-plus honorees in Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech for 2024, four organizations stood out for the ingenuity and potential impact of their innovations. They’re making warehouses safer, creating open-source technology for farming in the age of global warming, improving the capabilities of our phones and laptops, and deploying wireless connectivity in areas that have long been underserved.
ArcBest
For helping robots and humans safely
At a time when old-school media is on the decline, innovators are using technology to create more dynamic content experiences. These companies are disrupting the media industry in ways we couldn’t have imagined a decade ago, from the way we watch football at home to the experience of attending a concert.
Amazon
For flawless blitz predictions
While innovation can happen at companies of any size, sometimes it takes a certain scale to get things done. In areas such as autonomous driving and the graphics technology required to represent people more accurately, solutions only come by throwing a whole lot of resources at the problem. These companies stood out not just for their tech innovations, but the scale required to make those innovations happen.
Abbott
For taking glucose monitoring over the coun
Some of the AI tools with the greatest impact to perform useful work don’t go out of their way to call attention to themselves. These companies are applying the technology to jobs such as streamlining business processes, improving customer support experiences, and even making video meetings feel a little more natural.
aiOla
For giving voice to jargon-filled paperwork
Frontline workers such as forklift drivers often wrestle with paper forms as part of
If you want to get excited about consumer tech again, look at these innovations. They include breakthroughs in material design and miniaturization to make your gadgets even sleeker; new technologies to improve your health and wellness; and some clever applications of AI and data analysis. The next big thing in consumer tech is really about making life better beyond your phone, not just spending more time using it.
Elegoo
For speeding up 3D printing
3
There’s a lot of talk lately about the intersection of schools and technology, often focusing on devices as a distraction. But these three companies showcase how valuable technology can be for education. From the classroom, to study guides, to online learning, they’re taking the most cutting-edge ideas and applying them to learning, ensuring that no one is left behind.
Clear Touch
For making it easier to deploy technology in the classroom