The World’s Top Innovative Companies

The last couple of weeks have flooded our imaginations with tech innovations from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. But just as companies show off a handful of their ideas, many more are sitting in a lab being planned, built, re-engineered and tested.Forbes puts out a list of the world’s most innovative companies calculated primarily by financial information. To be included, firms need seven years of public financial data and $10 billion in market cap (check out Forbes 2014 list here). According to Forbes, "Companies are ranked by their innovation premium: the difference between their market capitalization and a net present value of cash flows from existing businesses (based on a proprietary formula from Credit Suisse HOLT). The difference between them is the bonus given by equity investors on the educated hunch that the company will continue to come up with profitable new growth." This methodology from Forbes is lacking innovations though. Here’s another way to look at the top innovative companies as 24/7 Wall St.'s Doug McIntyre talks about which companies are filing patents for new technology and leading the way in innovation: