25 MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES OF 2022

by Peter Campbell

Innovation — we all strive for it. Some even achieve it. The aim nowadays is towards sustainability, improving working processes, and harnessing Big Data. Below are 25 of the most innovative companies making waves today.

Stripe Climate

Stripe Climate tackles the ongoing issue of climate change head-on by allowing customers of its online payments company, Stripe, to join its strategy to fund ambitious carbon-removal technology by contributing a percentage of their digital sales that flow through Stripe’s software.

Solugen

Solugen has developed a process of turning corn syrup into industrial chemicals, using enzymes and metal catalysis. The company’s Houston bioforge creates none of the emissions of petrochemical processes and has yields of up to 90 per cent.

Twelve

This start-up has created a carbon transformation process that enables newly created chemicals to be used as a one-for-one replacement, thereby lowering the carbon footprint of Twelve’s customers without affecting product performance.

Blocpower

BlocPower addresses the consumption of fossil fuels by residential buildings by removing boilers, furnaces, stoves, and other oil and gas-based products. The start-up is providing electricity to buildings — especially in low- and middleincome communities — by installing technologies such as heat pumps.

Climate Trace

A coalition of organizations formed in 2020, Climate Trace — with access to 59 trillion bytes of data from more than 300 satellites and 11,000 sensors — updates and maintains greenhouse gas emissions estimates in order to give countries the insights they need to direct climate mitigation efforts more productively.

Watershed

Watershed uses software to help companies such as Airbnb, DoorDash, Shopify, Sweetgreen and Warby Parker to assess their CO2 emissions, develop a reduction strategy, and connect to carbon-removal solutions. By the end of Watershed’s first year, it helped customers manage emissions equivalent to more than four times the carbon footprint of San Francisco.

Doconomy

Once its users complete a detailed survey, Doconomy is able to estimate an individual’s annual emissions in categories such as transport, home, shopping, and diet. As well as their Lifestyle Calculator, Doconomy has created a 2030 Calculator that simplifies the process of calculating the carbon footprint of manufactured products across multiple product categories.

Microsoft

Upon analyzing over a trillion data points from a multitude of resources over the past couple of years, Microsoft noticed patterns that are now being used to inform new product features, such as a scheduling option designed to ensure employees get breaks between meetings.

Spacex

By lowering the cost of launch and expanding the number of opportunities for space travel — along with a record

31 flights last year, including the first allcivilian crew sent into orbit — SpaceX has been able to usher in what has been called “the second Golden Age of space.”

Canva

Described as “a word processor for our modern video culture,” Canva’s easy-touse templated design allows people to create everything from business cards, sales presentations, social media ads, to yearbooks and more.

Hybe

Consistently finding new ways to release content and cultivate fandom, Hybe recorded $1.04 billion in revenue in 2021, and acquired Ithaca Holdings in April of 2021 — giving Hybe even more star power as it continues to explore new technologies and content formats.

Ab Inbev

The largest brewer on Earth, AB InBev spent 2021 focussing on local impact. In Latin America, they debuted an app that allowed people to check the stock of any product in nearby stores. The company is also using barley straw to make sixpack boxes for Corona — which brings new income to farmers for a formerly unused by-product.

Miro

The new way of working has taken brainstorming and the “whiteboard” to a new level. Miro is here to help by adding such features as clustering every idea generated with one click, integrating its visual collaboration into everything from Zoom to Microsoft Teams, and introducing templates so anyone can run an effective goals meeting or design sprint.

Fanatics

With a database of over 80 million fans around the world, Fanatics is a leader in enabling fans to purchase licensed team merchandise. In August 2021, they secured trading card rights with MLB, the NFL, and the NBA. Fanatics began 2022 by acquiring leading card brand Topps.

Snap

With over 200 million Snapchat users playing with more than 6 billion augmented reality lenses every day, the company has made advancements in body tracking, cloth simulation, and object recognition — along with voice and gesture controls so users can set up their phones as virtual mirrors and then control their colour and style choices remotely.

Flexport

Flexport has built a software platform for companies to manage every aspect of their supply chain. With each node that Flexport digitizes, there’s more data to help customers resolve issues and inform new Flexport services — including order management, ocean freight procurement, and customs assistance.

Dapper Labs

Dapper Labs, which makes and markets nonfungible tokens, helped make 2021 the year of the NFT. Dapper even built its own blockchain, called Flow, to handle transactions speedily, and it also created its own crypto wallet to facilitate credit card payments, which had never been done before.

Back Market

An online marketplace for used electronics, Back Market began offering extended warranty repairs and launched a mobile app with a diagnostic tool that allows buyers to confirm that their refurbished gear is in top shape.

Farfetch

This luxury fashion marketplace — which works with high-end boutiques and labels — helped small businesses weather the pandemic by providing them with the tools to list their products online, as well as manage orders and shipping.

Byd

BYD grew sales of its hybrid and allelectric passenger vehicles by more than 231 per cent last year — selling almost 60,000 “new energy” cars across the globe. BYD also sold approximately 85,000 EV buses, garbage trucks, forklifts, and other specialty vehicles. And, unlike Tesla, BYD produces its own batteries.

Shopify

With thousands of employees, this multibillion-dollar corporation prides itself on its transparency. One of the keys to its success is that it refuses to be petty and, by constantly innovating, Shopify avoids the dangers of resting on its complacent laurels.

Greenhouse

Initially, a single Toronto shop founded in 2014, Greenhouse has expanded to become a national, vertically integrated, omnichannel, beverage business. Along with its ongoing pursuit of better flavour combinations, operations, and ingredients, it marks as one of its primary innovations a novel processing method that increases the shelf-life of its products.

Studio Am And River

A pair of Toronto-based studios make this list: Studio AM, which is a multidisciplinary creative studio and its offshoot; and River, a platform that allows for virtual filming. River emerged from Studio AM and as a result of consistent feedback from clients, staff, and endusers, is constantly being refined.

The Canadian Shield

InkSmith, the parent company of The Canadian Shield, did a major pivot when the pandemic hit. It went from selling such educational technology as laser cutters and 3-D printers to using that same technology to create medical face shields. It not only helped meet Canada’s pressing need for domestically-produced PPE, it also demonstrated how innovation can come from rapid responses to realworld crises.

EDESA BIOTECH, INC.

A clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, Edesa Biotech is working on developing a drug capable of treating those hospitalized with the most severe cases of COVID-19. Another of Edesa’s planned innovations is a monthly Journal Club for employees, partners, and interns to meet, evaluate, and exchange ideas on recent medical and scientific literature. //

by Marcus Medford

How does Tiny Mile provide a solution that makes environmentally and economically sustainable local delivery possible?

We’ve used technology to build delivery robots that cost a fraction of the normal price to operate, about 10 times less. So, we don't need to charge 30 per cent commission to a restaurant; just charging 3 per cent commission is enough to cover our costs. What we have is really good for businesses and the benefit of having an electric vehicle is that there are no emissions, so it’s great for both sides.

Is there a difference between how city governments approve things or what rules you have to

abide by? Or is the American side more welcoming to businesses and innovation?

I think it's both. There are 23 states that have regulations for delivery robots. They anticipated the benefit of the technology and set limits on the speed of the vehicles, the weight, and so on. So, it's a very safe place for us to operate. We can just go, comply with the regulations, and we know we start from a good point. On top of that, they’re incredibly welcoming, and we’ve built very strong relationships with them.