2008 Report BusinessWeek/Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have announced the world's top 50 innovative companies . Here is the 2008 List of the top 50 innovative companies in the world: Invest in The Innovation Index - Invest in the brand new Innovation Index Fund Rank Company HQ Country HQ Continent Revenue Growth 2004-07* (in %) Margin Growth 2004-07* (in %) Stock Returns 2004-07** (in %) Most Known for its Innovative... (% who think so) 1 APPLE USA North America 47 69 83 Products (52%) 2 GOOGLE USA North America 73 5 53 Customer Experience (26%) 3 TOYOTA MOTOR Japan Asia 12 1 15 Processes (36%) 4 GENERAL ELECTRIC USA North America 9 1 3 Processes (43%) 5 MICROSOFT USA North America 16 8 12 Products (26%) 6 TATA GROUP India Asia Private Private Private Products (58%) 7 NINTENDO Japan Asia 37 4 77 Products (63%) 8 PROCTER & GAMBLE USA North America 16 4 12 Processes (30%) 9 SONY Japan Asia 8 13 17 Products (56%) 10 NOKIA Finland Europe 20 2 35 Products (36%) 11 AMAZON.COM USA North America 29 -11 28 Customer Experience (33%) 12 IBM USA North America 1 11 4 Processes (31%) 13 RESEARCH IN MOTION Canada North America 56 -1 51 Products (37%) 14 BMW Germany Europe 6 -5 11 Customer Experience (40%) 15 HEWLETT-PACKARD USA North America 10 17 35 Processes, Business Models, and Customer Experience (27% each) 16 HONDA MOTOR Japan Asia 12 6 14 Products (40%) 17 WALT DISNEY USA North America 6 14 7 Customer Experience (63%) 18 GENERAL MOTORS USA North America -2 NA*** -11 Products (55%) 19 RELIANCE INDUSTRIES India Asia 31 -7 94 Business Models (31%) 20 BOEING USA North America 9 32 21 Products (63%) 21 GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP USA North America 30 6 28 Processes and Business Models (33% each) 22 3M USA North America 7 5 3 Products (45%) 23 WAL-MART STORES USA North America 10 -2 -2 Processes (48%) 24 TARGET USA North America 11 3 0 Customer Experience (67%) 25 FACEBOOK USA North America Private Private Private Customer Experience (51%) 26 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS South Korea Asia 2 -14 8 Products (42%) 27 AT&T USA North America 43 6 23 Customer Experience (33%) 28 VIRGIN GROUP Britain Europe Private Private Private Customer Experience (47%) 29 AUDI Germany Europe 11 11 41 Products (50%) 30 MCDONALD'S USA North America 7 -7 25 Customer Experience (42%) 31 DAIMLER Germany Europe -11 37 28 Products (35%) 32 STARBUCKS USA North America 23 -2 -13 Customer Experience (60%) 33 EBAY USA North America 33 -37 -17 Business Models (28%) 34 VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS USA North America 12 0 9 Services (41%) 35 CISCO SYSTEMS USA North America 20 -5 12 Products (35%) 36 ING GROEP Netherlands Europe 7 4 11 Services (41%) 37 SINGAPORE AIRLINES Singapore Asia 9 5 20 Customer Experience (55%) 38 SIEMENS Germany Europe 1 21 22 Products (41%) 39 COSTCO WHOLESALE USA North America 11 -5 14 Customer Experience (46%) 40 HSBC Britain Europe 12 -1 4 Services (39%) 41 BANK OF AMERICA USA North America 12 0 0 Customer Experience and Services (23% each) 42 EXXON MOBIL USA North America 11 7 25 Processes (50%) 43 NEWS CORP. USA North America 4 4 4 Business Models (47%) 44 BP Britain Europe 14 -5 11 Processes (42%) 45 NIKE USA North America 8 -1 14 Customer Experience (43%) 46 DELL USA North America 7 -12 -17 Business Models (37%) 47 VODAFONE GROUP Britain Europe 7 -21 15 Business Models (33%) 48 INTEL USA North America 4 -10 6 Products (53%) 49 SOUTHWEST AIRLINES USA North America 15 9 -9 Customer Experience (50%) 50 AMERICAN EXPRESS USA North America 3 1 3 Customer Experience (35%) 17 of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index are included in the top 50 innovative companies of the world by BusinessWeek/BCG. There were many new entrants in 2008. The top five innovators from last year, have strengthened their positions further, and remain in the top five slots this year also. Apple is #1 for the fourth time in a row owing to another innovation milestone: Apple iPhone . Google is #2 again owing to the growth of the AdWords and AdSense businesses. Toyota Motor remains at #3, General Electric at #4 and Microsoft at #5. Tata Group - India vaults into the Top Ten innovative company list for the first time at #6. Tat was not in the top 50 innovative company list last year. Tata recently acquired Jaguar and Land Rover . Although the big reason Tata is in the top ten is owing to the introduction of Tata Nano, a $2,500 new car that will revolutionize the car industry. Nintendo, at #7, is the top innovator out of Japan, thanks to the runaway success of Wii. Proctor & Gamble fell one notch to #8, but stayed in the Top Ten innovators list. P&G is a perennial innovator, and figures to be in Top Ten for the foreseeable future. Another Top Ten innovator went up a notch to #9 - Sony. Sony's Blu-Ray and new product mix is causing a turnaround. Rounding out the Top Ten is Nokia out of Finland. Nokia went up 3 places and surged back to the Top Ten list. Nokia is the heavyweight in wireless, and the new Nokia models are doing rather well. General Motors is on a comeback with exciting new electric concept cars, and remarkable new vehicles in the Buick, Hummer, Cadillac and Saturn lines. GM is on a rebound, and could have a solid 2008-2009. Reliance Industries, another Indian innovator, vaults into the Top Twenty list of innovators. Reliance is a household name in India - from wireless to telecommunications, technology to infrastructure - Reliance can be found in virtually every industry in India. There are key companies shining in this year's list out of England including Vodafone, BP, HSBC, and Virgin Group. Overall, 2008 list of innovators is very well-represented globally. #25 on the list is Facebook - a new innovator who has the sixth highest trafficked website on social networking - who can one day challenge Google and MySpace.com. According to BusinessWeek, "2008 list of the World's Most Innovative Companies adds three financial measures to the mix to determine the rankings. For this year's list, votes cast in the proprietary BusinessWeek-BCG survey received 80% of the overall weighting, stock returns were weighted 10%, while three-year revenue and margin growth each got 5%. While these changes -- only votes from our survey counted in the past -- marked the biggest shift yet in our rankings of the World's Most Innovative Companies, there are some similarities to previous years." 2007 Report BusinessWeek recently announced ( external link ) the top 50 innovative companies of the world, an annual ranking compiled along with Boston Consulting Group. Click here to view the Top 50 rankings . Listed below is the 2007 Top 50 Innovative companies in the world, along with their 2006 ranking comparison. Invest in The Innovation Index - Invest in the brand new Innovation Index Fund Apple Inc. ( NASDAQ: AAPL ) is #1 again, 3rd year in a row. Google Inc. ( NASDAQ: GOOG ) is #2 again. And climbing up one notch is Toyota at #3. General Electric ( NYSE: GE ) is #4, up 2 places; Microsoft ( NASDAQ: MSFT ) held steady at #5, Proctor & Gamble ( NYSE: PG ) went up 1 spot to #6, 3M ( NYSE: MMM ) went down 4 notches to #7, Walt Disney Co ( NYSE: DIS ) zoomed up a whopping 35 places to #8, IBM ( NYSE: IBM ) went up 1 place to #9, and Sony climbed 3 places to #10. There are many new innovators in the BusinessWeek top 50. AT&T ( NYSE: T ), Citigroup ( NYSE: C ), Verizon ( NYSE: VZ ), Nintendo (Japan), Volkswagen (Germany), Best Buy ( NYSE: BBY ), Merck ( NYSE: MRK ) and News Corporation ( NYSE: NWS ) are your new companies. Besides, Royal Philips Electronics (Netherlands), Costco Wholesale ( NASDAQ: COST ), Pfizer ( NYSE: PFE ), Johnson & Johnson ( NYSE: JNJ ), Amgen ( NASDAQ: AMGN ), McDonald's Corporation ( NYSE: MCD ), and LG Electronics (South Korea) have vaulted into the top 50 rankings (in 2006, these companies were ranked in the top 100, outside the top 50). This means, a few innovators dropped out of the top 50. Last year (December 2006), I started The Innovation Index of the top 20 innovators based on 2006 BusinessWeek rankings of North American companies. I had only included the top 25 publicly traded North American companies in The Innovation Index based on the BusinessWeek rankings so as to evaluate their innovation activity and stock performance on a weekly basis. I am now planning to revise The Innovation Index for 2008 based on this new ranking from BusinessWeek, and am considering including the global publicly traded Innovators - the likes of Toyota , Sony , Nokia, BMW , Samsung, Philips, Infosys (although Infosys was not included in the Top 50 this year), top innovator from China, and more - besides the North American Innovators. This would create the first global Innovation Index for 2008. How did BusinessWeek come up with the Top 50 Innovative Companies ranking? According to the BusinessWeek article: "The BusinessWeek-Boston Consulting Group 2007 list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies is based on a senior management survey about innovation and was distributed electronically to executives worldwide in late 2006. In October, surveys were sent to the 1,500 largest global corporations, determined by market capitalization in U.S. dollars, with instructions to send the survey to their top 10 executives in charge of innovation. The survey was also distributed to senior management members of the BusinessWeek Market Advisory Board, an online panel consisting of BusinessWeek readers, and via the Knowledge@Wharton e-mail newsletter. Survey participation was voluntary and anonymous, and the survey closed in March, 2007. The survey consisted of 20 general questions on innovation and an optional 12 questions focused on innovation metrics. A total of 2,468 executives answered the survey. Of those indicating their location, 77% were from North America, 12% were from Europe, and 9% were from Asia or the Pacific region . A larger share of North American voters this year may explain some movement in the rankings of some companies on our list." Compare this to 2006 BusinessWeek rankings , wherein only 1,070 executives answered the survey, although the mix was globally representative - 46% were from North America, 30% from Eurpoe, and 16% from Asia and Pacific. In 2007, out of the top 50 innovative companies, only 14 were outside North America; in 2006, 20 companies were outside North America. Perhaps this has to do with the executives answering the survey, and their representative global mix. Regardless, the top 50 innovators in the world are world-class companies creating new innovations through unmatched creativity and driving profitable growth. Creativity And Innovation in Business Definitive Guide is a 175-page collection of my handpicked 45 Creativity and Innovation best practices, case studies, articles, interviews, and insights on the current state of innovation in business. The eBook provides real-world examples on how the Top 50 Innovators including Apple, Google, GE, Proctor and Gamble, Yahoo, Toyota, Netflix, BMW, Deloitte, Timex, Frito Lays, Johnson & Johnson, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Microsoft, Intel and more innovate and grow their business successfully time and again, especially during trying times. Use this eBook as a guide to find and create game-changing innovations, unblock creativity, and make innovation successful at your business. Show your support for this blog -> Download the Creativity And Innovation in Business eBook Now Invest in the Innovation Index Fund We launched the new Innovation Index Fund in December, 2007 that invests in the Innovation Index and returned 66% in 2007, and 174% in the previous five years. If you want to learn more about the Innovation Index Fund, fill out your contact information at the bottom of this form: http://www.innovationindexgroup.com/invest.html The Innovation Index Reports : Invest in The Innovation Index - Invest in the brand new Innovation Index Fund Introducing The Innovation Index Fund - Invest into The Innovation Index Top 50 Innovative Companies in the world - 2007 Report on Top 50 Companies The Innovation Index closes 2007 with 66% gain, crushes major U.S. indices - 2007 Annual Report Annual Report - Chapter One - Total Innovation Activity - 2006 Annual Report One Annual Report - Chapter Two - The Top Innovator - 2006 Annual Report Two Annual Report - Chapter Three - The Innovation Insights - 2006 Annual Report Insights Innovation and Stock Performance Correlation - The Innovation Index and Stock Performance About The Innovation Index The Innovation Index introduced in December 2006 is a weighted stock price index of the top 20 Innovators in North America. The Innovation Index returned 66% in 2007, and returned 174% over the previous five years (2002-2006). This assumes equal investment in each stock of The Innovation Index as of December 31, 2001. An average of $100 invested in The Innovation Index on December 31, 2001 returned $454 as of December 31, 2007. By comparison, $100 invested in S & P 500 returned 28% or $129, $100 invested in NASDAQ returned 34% or $136, and $100 invested in the Dow Jones Index returned 30% or $131 through December 31, 2007. The Innovation Index beats the S & P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones Index by more than seven times over the past six years. Alphabetical list of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index for 2008 and their stock ticker symbols: 3M Company - ( NYSE: MMM ) Amazon.com, Inc. - ( NASDAQ: AMZN ) America Movil - ( NYSE: AMX ) Apple Inc. - ( NASDAQ: AAPL ) AT&T Inc. - ( NYSE: T ) Best Buy Co., Inc. - ( NYSE: BBY ) Cisco Systems, Inc. - ( NASDAQ: CSCO ) Costco Wholesale Corporation - ( NASDAQ: COST ) eBay Inc. - ( NASDAQ: EBAY ) General Electric Co. - ( NYSE: GE ) Google Inc. - ( NASDAQ: GOOG ) Hewlett-Packard Co. - ( NYSE: HPQ ) Intel Corporation - (NYSE: INTC) International Business Machines Corp. - ( NYSE: IBM ) Merck & Co., Inc. - ( NYSE: MRK ) McDonald's Corporation ( NYSE: MCD ) Microsoft Corporation - ( NASDAQ: MSFT ) NIKE, Inc. - ( NYSE: NKE ) Research In Motion Limited - ( NASDAQ: RIMM ) The Proctor & Gamble Company - ( NYSE: PG ) The Innovation Index will analyze the positions and standings of the Top 20 Innovators at the end of each year. For 2008, there will be no further changes in The Innovation Index. Disclaimer: The Innovation Index Group, Inc. invests in the stocks comprising The Innovation Index. Additional Labels: top 5 innovative companies innovative companies top innovative companies top companies on innovation and creativity innovation and creativity top 50 creativity and innovation in business top 10 creative and innovative companies top 10 innovator top 100 innovative business top 10 innovative companies top 50 innovative companies Originally published: May 11, 2007 Updated: April 22, 2008