Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2022 i Fast Company

The fashion retailer Express, a mall-culture staple, is on a mission to transform itself for the digital era. It manages a flock of social-selling influencers and is using data to personalize the experience of browsing its hot-pink crop tops and sequined statement blazers. The finishing touch on this brand makeover? A partnership with buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Klarna to co-brand digital ads and offer Klarna’s “Pay in 4” product—which splits shopping-spree expenditures into four interest-free biweekly payments—at checkout. “We want to give customers with a certain perception of us an opportunity to change that perception, ” says Brian Seewald, Express’s SVP of e-commerce. “We’re taking the risk out of a purchase with BNPL, ” adding that Express customers who opt to use Klarna have a higher average order…

At the height of her career, WQXR’s creative director, Clemency Burton-Hill, suffered a traumatic brain injury. She credits music with bringing her back to life. As New Yorkers retreated to their homes to stop the spread of COVID-19 in March 2020, Clemency Burton-Hill, then 38, was waking up from a 17-day coma. The creative director of New York Public Radio’s classical music station WQXR had suffered a traumatic brain injury while at work that left her unable to speak, walk, or even listen to the station whose content she had been programming and overseeing for more than three years. After she emerged, Burton-Hill, who grew up in London playing classical violin, lost her ability to practice and process music, both cognitively and emotionally. Eventually, she learned how to appreciate music…

For nearly a century, the drug trial process has remained the same. Researchers use animal testing before advancing drugs to human clinical trials. But this method is imperfect. Animal models are not replicative of the human body, so the failure rate for many drugs that reach human trials is extremely high. What’s more, there are many ethical questions surrounding the use of animal subjects. To address these issues, Emulate, a Boston biotech company, developed a technology called “organ-on-a-chip.” The chip contains microfluidic channels that can be lined with human cell types, including liver, lung, brain, and intestinal cells. Fluid can be pumped through the device to replicate blood flow, and pressure can be applied to replicate a breathing lung, or peristalsis in the intestine, for example. “This is an evolution…

01 New York, New York FRANK SINATRA My wife, who is from France, had to learn it in school. It’s also the first karaoke tune I ever sang. 02 Rapper’s Delight SUGAR HILL GANG This song expresses the energy, joy, and rise of rap in the ’70s and ’80s. It was the soundtrack to my childhood in the city. 03 Empire State of Mind JAY-Z WITH ALICIA KEYS It brings to life the edge and sophistication of the city. 04 New York City Serenade BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN This captures the city through the eyes of a couple, with bluesy riffs, doowop, and Latin jazz.…

Most Innovative Companies The world runs on contracts. They’re the basis of uncountable deals and collaborations that allow businesses to thrive and grow. They’re also wildly time-consuming, requiring considerable resources to draft, analyze, organize, and track. LinkSquares, a Boston-based contract management company, is determined to help finance and legal departments spend less time on contracts throughout their entire lifespan, while also providing them with the kind of previously unmined data that could lead to new and important insights. As the first Al-powered, end-to-end contract-lifecycle-management platform, LinkSquares empowers contract stakeholders to make decisions more quickly and with greater confidence. In 2021, LinkSquares introduced several new capabilities to its platform based on or inspired by customer feedback—what CEO Vishal Sunak describes as an essential part of the design process. “We are not…

Most Innovative Companies The COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses across the country to adapt—perhaps no more so than in the healthcare industry. This was the case for Northwell Health, New York’s largest healthcare provider, with 22 hospitals, 830 outpatient facilities, and 77,000 employees. Over the past year, Northwell has treated 200,000 coronavirus patients while developing myriad programs to more effectively care for patients and employees alike. “We have an innovative, team-oriented, and collaborative culture, which makes the challenges we’ve had to deal with much easier to handle,” says Michael Dowling, Northwell Health’s president and CEO. “When you have a crisis like COVID, and a culture like this, that’s taken years to develop, it all comes together.” That culture helped Northwell move quickly in the face of rapid change. For example, the…

Most Innovative Companies The one-two punch of pandemic related economic disruptions and supply chain issues has rocked the commercial fleet industry and dried up the nation’s vehicle supply chain. But for Merchants Fleet, the past two years have presented big opportunities. Thanks in part to a big bet on the important role electric vehicles (EVs) and connected cars would play in the fleet management industry, Merchants has experienced considerable growth at a time when many of its competitors are shrinking. It’s that innovative approach to fleet management that helped earn Merchants a place on Fast Company’s list of the world’s Most Innovative Companies. “We’ve worked really hard at creating a culture where we ask, What’s the opportunity? What can be done?” says Brendan P. Keegan, CEO of Merchants Fleet. “Our…

HIGH-PROFILE ATHLETES AND ENTERTAINERS HAVE INCREASINGLY been speaking out about their struggles with mental well-being in recent years. Very few business leaders have done the same. There’s a simple reason for that: There’s still a stigma associated with revealing such seeming vulnerability at work. ¶ But with burnout, anxiety, and depression among workers hitting record levels—according to a 2021 report from mental health consultancy Mind Share Partners, three-quarters of full-time U.S. workers reported experiencing at least one symptom of a mental health condition in the past year, up from 59% in 2019—we’re seeing signs of change. Companies are making mental health benefits more accessible and starting to have substantive discussions about how company culture affects employees’ sense of well-being. Lawmakers are wrestling with how to ensure that mental health and…

GENERAL EXCELLENCE Animal-free whey protein Perfect Day A bioreactor-grown milk protein that uses up to 99% less water and reduces emissions by up to 97% ADVERTISING Salla 2032 Africa A campaign in which an Arctic city bid for the Summer Olympics to raise awareness on climate change Al AND DATA AI to Eliminate Unnecessary Animal Testing Smarter Sorting Replacing animals with AI to predict a product’s toxicity ART AND DESIGN Forust Desktop Metal Using 3D printing to upcycle wood and paper waste into durable products CLIMATE BlocPower BlocPower Electrifying urban buildings reliant on fossil fuels CONSUMER PRODUCTS Gradient Comfort Gradient Comfort An eco-friendly redesign of the traditional window AC unit CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Dairy Farm Transition Program Miyoko’s Creamery Helping struggling dairy farmers transition to crops EDUCATION Educator Exchange Course…

THE WAYUU PEOPLE OF northern Colombia, who live in small rural villages called rancherias near the Venezuelan border and rely on fishing and artisan crafting for survival, have little access to electricity—like an estimated 759 million people in the world. Many of these communities are coastal, which inspired a starting point for a sustainable solution: seawater. Colombian renewables startup Edina recruited creative agency Wunderman Thompson to help design the Waterlight. Inside the portable device, saltwater sparks an ionization reaction, producing enough electrical energy to generate light and charge phones and radios. Just half a liter of saltwater can produce 45 days of electricity. The community played an active part in informing the lamp’s design: a weighted base to withstand wind and sand in a desert climate and to stand upright…

IN INDIA, SOME 93% OF THE country’s three-wheel autorickshaws run on fossil fuels, and many of the ones that are electric are powered by lead-acid batteries with life spans of just six to nine months. Power Global’s eZee module, a lithium-ion battery that lasts at least five years, can be swapped with a charged unit at any of the company’s growing network of kiosks. “We can offer 25% to 35% cost savings per day for the drivers— which is huge when you’re making somewhere between $5 and $10 a day, ” says Power Global founder Porter Harris. Rickshaw manufacturer Rap Eco Motors is negotiating for 50,000 conversion kits, which it says will eliminate 3.7 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually-almost the entire yearly emissions of a single coal-fired…

Most Innovative Companies For the past 30 years, Myriad Genetics has been involved in genetic testing to help women determine their risk of breast cancer. Typically, about 5% of women test positive for a high-risk genetic mutation. For them, heightened surveillance could be a life saver. But for the 95% of women who test negative, the results are significantly less useful. After all, not having the genetic mutation doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t at risk for breast cancer. Now, Myriad has developed a more extensive platform that integrates additional ancestry genetic markers and epidemiological risk factors into the traditional testing process. The goal is to give patients a more definitive sense of their risk of developing breast cancer. More importantly, genetic risk factors vary among different patient populations. Myriad’s RiskScore…

Most Innovative Companies Among the many new career paths taken by workers who joined the pandemic-fueled Great Resignation are those in real estate. In the 12 months through February, membership in the National Association of Realtors jumped more than 5%, thanks in part to a hot housing market. And as more agents flood the industry, established agents are now struggling to stand out from the crowd. One solution: Building their own brands. But leaving a large real estate firm is both fraught and frightening—liability concerns and logistical headaches have discouraged many successful agents from hanging out their own shingles. Enter Side, a venture focused on transforming agents into companies by giving them the tools to create and grow their own brands. Side offers a proprietary technology platform that lets agents…

Most Innovative Companies The next time you’re driving down the highway, take a close peek at the first semi truck you see, and you might notice that the person in the driver’s seat isn’t touching the steering wheel. That’s because after years of development, driverless trucking technology became commercially available for the first time in 2021. The company that brought this industry-transforming technology to market is California-based Plus. In early 2021, Plus launched PlusDrive, an innovative, driverless technology product that can be integrated with trucks during the manufacturing process or retrofitted to existing vehicles. The technology is already being used by commercial shippers in the U.S. and China. “We’re proud to be the first company to offer a commercially available autonomous-trucking technology product, ” says David Liu, Plus’s founder and…

IN MID TOWN MANHATTAN, ON THE GROUND FLOOR OF AN OFFICE BUILDING, THERE’S A COFFEE SHOP THAT’S EASY TO MISS. When you walk in, there’s no menu, just a metal riser supporting drinks waiting to be picked up, and in back, some plush banquettes and tables. Display cases are stocked with tidy packs of sushi and sandwiches, and shelves feature gas-station staples like Red Bull and Kettle chips. To access any of this, you have to pass through a turnstile that scans your palm and logs in to your Amazon account. The coffee and food can be paid for without uttering a word to anybody. A sign by the door suggests, “Start with the apps.” Marketed as “a completely different Starbucks built on effortless convenience” when it opened last November, this…

Most Innovative Companies At age 18, Cole Mason left Texas to pursue a modeling career in New York City. He had a hard time gaining traction in the fashion industry and was forced to come up with a Plan B. While working as a nightclub promoter, Mason met lots of online creators- many with millions of followers-but noticed that few were able to actually monetize their influence. “I realized creators didn’t have a sustainable way to make money, and I wanted to build a way for them to earn a living doing what they love, ” he says. Enter Pearpop, a creator-centered digital platform cofounded by Mason to facilitate collaborations between brands and influencers. It took three years for Mason to save enough money to build the app, create a…

Most Innovative Companies Global trust in Big Tech, long plagued by issues of privacy and overreach, hit a record low last year. Yet technology continues to dominate our lives, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only magnified its influence. “As algorithms are making more and more decisions about every single part of our lives, shouldn’t the public have a say?” asks Nabiha Syed, president of the nonprofit tech industry-focused news organization should always be the Markup. It’s a rhetorical question that could well be the organization’s mission statement. The site traffics in news items and service-oriented sections, but the Markup has largely made a name for itself with in-depth, data-driven investigative pieces that hold Big Tech companies accountable for largely unpoliced transgressions such as racially biased software algorithms and self-serving search…

Most Innovative Companies In 1984, fast-food chain Wendy’s debuted its “Where’s the Beef?” advertising campaign, with TV spots featuring the inimitable Clara Peller posing the titular question to two gray-haired companions as they surveyed a competitor’s burger. The campaign elevated the catchphrase into the pop culture pantheon, and fueled record sales at Wendy’s. For Kurt Kane, Wendy’s president, U.S., and chief commercial officer, the ad is a perfect illustration of the burger chain’s brand. It’s light, memorable, and fun, offering subtle—but not mean-spirited—jabs at Wendy’s competition. “Our brand tone and our tone of voice comes down to one word: sassy”, Kane says. Wendy’s previous advertising successes-including hundreds of ads featuring folksy company founder Dave Thomas—provided a road map for Kane and his team as they searched for new ways to…

Most Innovative Companies When the pandemic swept through the U.S. in 2020, it decimated many businesses owned by Black, Hispanic, and Native American entrepreneurs. Lockdown measures kept customers, clients, and diners home, putting many businesses in dire situations. In fact, 41% of Black-owned companies closed their doors—permanently in many cases—between February and April 2020 alone, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. These businesses were disproportionally affected in part due to difficulties accessing loans and other capital. As a result, DreamSpring, a nonprofit lender in New Mexico, took action: In 2021, the organization provided $225 million in loans to this vulnerable group, helping to preserve more than 44,000 jobs. The nonprofit’s innovative approach to funding is a big part of why DreamSpring landed a spot on Fast Company’s list…

Most Innovative Companies Tim McCollum didn’t set out to reinvent the craft-chocolate value chain. He simply wanted to create a value-added product in Madagascar, an island country off the coast of East Africa, plagued by one of the world’s highest poverty rates. McCollum had spent two years there in the Peace Corps, and he realized it wasn’t the ex-port of raw materials (as is typical in Africa) that could bring money to the impoverished nation, but rather, implementing value-enhancing processes to an existing local commodity: chocolate. “We had no idea what we were getting into, ” McCollum says of Beyond Good, the vertically integrated chocolate company he founded in 2008. “We had no consumer packaged-goods experience, no food experience—just commitment to the country and the mission.” That lack of experience…

The Open Ears Project This daily podcast—or as she describes it, a sonic love letter—features guests including taxi drivers, teachers, and actor Tom Hiddleston, who share their favorite piece of classical music and what it means to them. 3 Minute Opera WQXR morning host Jeff Spurgeon breaks down entire operas in 180 seconds in an entertaining manner, and with musical clips spliced in. How To Classical This series attempts to demystify the traditions of the classical music world, answering such questions as “Why does the oboe tune the orchestra?” (It’s easy to hear.) Carnegie Hall Live How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice; pay a lot of money; or tune into WQXR broadcasts from the storied venue’s famous concerts, along with interviews and explanations about each of…

Electrified by the play of 2021 NBA Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks were cheered to their first NBA Championship in 50 years by millions of people around the world. Fans that were lucky enough to attend the NBA Finals in person also enjoyed a new kind of fan experience. A few months earlier—playing in their second pandemic-impacted season—the Bucks began using an operating system created by financial technology firm Fiserv to enable mobile ordering, self-serve kiosks, and contact-free pickup for fans at their home venue, Fiserv Forum. These new capabilities nearly eliminated the need to queue for concessions in the state-of-the-art arena, an important consideration during the pandemic. The enhanced ordering experience also meant fans spent less time waiting in line for bratwursts and beer—and more time cheering…

The pandemic devastated the U.S. job market. Millions lost jobs in the spring and summer of 2020, as consumer spending plummeted in a stay-at-home landscape. Over the following two years, a historic labor shortage—partially fueled by the Great Resignation—created a gaping divide separating the needs of both employer and employee. Through it all, employers scrambled to find a COVID-friendly recruitment and hiring process that integrated the sudden shift from in-person meetings to virtual interactions. Job search site Indeed quickly adapted to help HR managers navigate this upended job market. In 2021, the company launched the Indeed Hiring Platform, a solution that allows employers to manage the hiring process-from job posting through interview. For employers eager to hire, it means that they can shorten hiring time from weeks to days. The…

What’s your best habit, and what’s your worst? They are one and the same: the urge to solve problems, all problems. The great thing about solving problems is that it brings satisfaction when tasks are complete; on the other hand, I tend to take on too many problems at once. What do you do when you’re creatively stuck? Visit Bergdorf Goodman. What are the buzzwords you never want to hear again? “At a high level.” This phrase avoids the real problem, and the resulting outcome from the high-level talk is never high level or specific. What’s the best mistake you ever made? All my mistakes felt terrible, but you learn from them and move on. How do you unplug? Watch horror or sci-fi movies. Is there a book you recommend…

01 Seong Buk Dong This food is prepared by a grandmother whose authentic cooking tastes like what you would get at a Korean home. The galbi jjim and kimchi jjigae are superb. 02 Park’s BBQ There are private rooms upstairs for larger parties. I love the spicy yook gae jang for a hangover. 03 Galleria Market This Korean grocery store has large boxes of ramyun noodles and delicious ready-to-eat side dishes. An added bonus is the shopping mall upstairs. 04 Wi Spa The spa’s full-body exfoliation will leave your skin glowing and incredibly soft. Definitely a bit exposing! Just give in. 05 Tous Les Jours Their cloud cakes melt in your mouth. A light cream touch on the celebratory cake that is at once refreshing and lightly sweet. Lost and…

YOU DON’T GARNER 15 GRAMMYS ACROSS A TWO-DECADE-LONG CAREER without a strong work ethic. Alicia Keys, the artist with the dynamic voice and extraordinary songwriting and producing talent, developed hers at an early age. Her role model was her mother, who raised Keys on her own in New York City, sometimes working multiple jobs. “She had to work these long hours,” Keys tells me over Zoom on a bright March afternoon. “And so I saw her and I said, ‘Okay, that’s what you do. You work hard.’ Because if you don’t work or don’t go for what you want, you won’t get it.” ¶ The approach certainly produced results. But success came at the expense of Keys’s mental well-being. Keys was barely out of her teens when she first reached…

Most Innovative Companies The greatest challenge in cybersecurity isn’t often technological—it’s human. Even if the software solutions are functioning perfectly, the humans are, well, human. IT teams are overtaxed and tired. Employees may lack expertise or, at the very least, have jobs to do besides guarding company data against hackers. Distraction, fatigue, and old-fashioned human error continue to grant malicious actors access to sensitive data. It was by focusing on the human side of cybersecurity that led Arctic Wolf to develop an innovative new security solution. Arctic Wolf Managed Security Awareness, which launched in 2021, aims to reduce risks by using more realistic training experiences and awareness coaching to help businesses harden their security posture from the inside out. It’s an end-to-end concept that includes taking responsibility for every aspect…

Most Innovative Companies For many patients, orthopedic surgery is a quality-of-life saver. It can relieve pain and restore function to their bones and joints, helping keep them active—whether it’s running a 5k or simply getting dressed by themselves every morning. But highly complex surgeries such as joint replacements often are guided by surgeons’ experience and intuition. For instance, surgeons may know they want a certain incision to be made at a 40-degree angle, but when they make the cut, they judge the position with their eye. Medical device company Zimmer Biomet recognized an opportunity to inject more accuracy, precision, and consistency into orthopedic surgery through the use of robotic tools. “Robotics bring objective measures to the table, ” says Liane Teplitsky, president of global robotics and technology and data solutions…

WORLD-CHANGING COMPANY OF THE YEAR Above AgencyAclimaChange.orgChobaniFedExMastercardSoftbox GENERAL EXCELLENCE 2-Nanometer Chip IBM Acre Modern Mill Argo 1000 Roboze Autonomous Gate-to-Gate Flight Technology Xwing Create Structure Better Shelter Employee-Controlled Compensation Program Expensify ESG & Sustainability Cloud OneTrust FutureFeed FutureFeed Gradient Comfort Gradient Comfort Infinite Recycling Samsara Mini GUSS GUSS Automation New Wave Shrimp New Wave Foods Touch Card Mastercard Woolly Mammoth De-extinction Project Colossal ADVERTISING “ Football Is for Everyone” 72andSunny and National Football League Invisible Petitions TBWA\Istanbul Lahti Campaign Sustainable Lahti Foundation “ Long Live the Prince” Engine Timelapse in Google Earth Google AI AND DATA AI4Leprosy Novartis Foundation, Microsoft, and Instituto Oswaldo Cruz Autonomous stores AiFi and Choice Market Diversio Diversio Flyways AI Platform Airspace Intelligence Generate Biomedicines Generate Biomedicines Gridsmart Cubic Transportation Systems The Markup The Markup Open…

Most Innovative Companies Tommy Palm founded Resolution Games in 2015 with a mission: to create a studio focused on expanding the boundaries of immersive virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies to build games in which connection, cooperation, and teamwork take center stage. Having accomplished those goals with titles like Bait!, Biaston, and Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale, the Stockholm-based developer has released games for every major VR- and AR-device on the market. And just last year, the company (bolstered by $38.5 million in funding) broke new ground with the launch of Demeo, an ingenious virtual reality title inspired in part by classic tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. But where D&D was largely twodimensional (well, except for those polyhedral dice), Demeo is a multiplayer extravaganza that merges slick…

JUST BLOCKS FROM AMAZON STUDIOS IN SANTA MONICA, next to a startup that’s developing high-protein, low-carb bagels, is the headquarters of one of L.A.’s buzziest new brands. Inside, it’s light and airy, with standard-issue startup touches like exposed pipes and industrial light fixtures, plus a few dogs peeking out from under desks. But there are a few details that you won’t find anywhere else: a plasticwrapped flat of neon-colored Gatorade near the front entrance and a wall dominated by photos of women-goofy candids of Angel City FC soccer players, their fans, and the new team’s mostly female staffers, many of whom are gathered around desks nearby. The conversations they’re having on this February morning are undoubtedly unlike anything being talked about at neighboring offices too. News has just broken that members…

Most Innovative Companies The monitoring of vital signs is an essential component in a patient’s healthcare. But numerous factors can diminish their accuracy and usefulness. In a hospital, for example, constant monitoring involves both time- and labor-intensive procedures-and this was before the added stresses and complications of COVID. Xandar Kardian, a radar technology company with products serving a wide range of commercial uses, has taken on these challenges with its XK300 Autonomous Health Monitoring Solution. The system, which won FDA approval in 2021, works by continuously monitoring the vibrational frequency patterns generated by our bodies to detect and measure such vital signs as resting heart rate, respiratory rate, and physical motion. “This type of data is extremely powerful for physicians and clinicians, ” says Sam Yang, Xandar Kardian’s cofounder and…

Most Innovative Companies At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as governments struggled to disperse information and aid, Unqork, an enterprise-software development platform, was ready to lend a hand. The company, often given deadlines of only a few days, was able to help officials in Washington, D.C. and New York City build and launch COVID information portals. And as no-contact protocols upended how state and local governments did business, Unqork’s platform virtualized services like granting marriage licenses-and, in New York City, helped deliver meals to more than 125 million needy and hungry citizens. How was the company able to move so quickly? The key lies in its no-code platform, which allows users to utilize a visual interface to build custom applications at expedited speeds. “Instead of binary bits and bytes-all…

PUBERTY, IN NICK KROLL’S HIT Netflix series Big Mouth, is a bawdy animated universe where feelings and hormones have minds of their own, guiding characters through complex social situations with hilarious and often revelatory results. Kroll’s recent spin-off, Human Resources, demonstrates that the workplace is remarkably similar. The comedian—who voices more than 30 characters across the two shows—knows that we bring our full selves to the office, for better or worse, because he oversees one of his own, a year-and-a-half-old production company called Good at Business. Here, Kroll talks about writing comedy over Zoom, translating Slack to the screen, and teaming up with Mel Brooks for the upcoming Hulu series History of the World, Part II. When did you realize that Big Mouth could yield a spin-off, which focuses on…

The Presidio Tunnel Tops, opening to the public on July 17, caps more than 25 years of transformation at the Presidio, a 1,500-acre national park set on a former military base. Since the mid-’90s, the land (which includes the Crissy Field recreation area) has been transformed, with barracks and airstrips giving way to restored wetlands and a trail network. But the Presidio and the waterfront at Crissy Field were still separated by a Depression-era elevated highway. When that thoroughfare was replaced with a new one featuring a set of ground-level tunnels, the area’s stewards sought to turn the space atop the tunnels into a 14-acre park. James Corner Field Operations, the firm behind New York’s High Line, used input from 10,000 area residents to design a place that celebrates the…

Most Innovative Companies After two long years of being effectively grounded by COVID-19, business travel is slowly but surely coming back. Spending on corporate trips is expected to increase by nearly 40% this year and should reach prepandemic levels by 2024, according to the Global Business Travel Association, an industry trade group. And with that rebound comes a rethinking of business as usual. “Business travel has been evolving more and more rapidly over the past 10 years-and has seismically changed over the past two years,” says Kirstie McLatchie, senior director, product management, at travel software company Deem. One big change is that business travelers are increasingly treating corporate trip planning more like they do for personal travel: They want to reschedule missed connections and book rideshares from the airport with…

Tom Cruise went viral last year for a series of TikTok videos where he performed magic tricks and even took a tumble—all while maintaining his winning smile. Except it wasn’t him. The videos were deepfakes created by London’s Metaphysic, which combined footage of an impersonator and AI in a way that almost perfectly emulated the actor. The stunt was a particularly sophisticated showcase of how seamless synthetic media—AI-generated or –altered text, audio, photos, and videos—can be. Over the past few years, the tech has moved from science fiction to everyday. “Synthetic media is already a huge part of the media ecosystem in a way that most of us don’t realize,” says Henry Ajder, head of policy and partnerships at Metaphysic. It is being used by investor-funded startups in everything from…

New York City-based brand La Ligne’s collaboration with chef Mario Carbone melds vintage tailoring with street style. Inspired by Carbone’s father’s outfits from the 1980s, the collection includes polos and pinstripe pants (from $125, ourladyofrocco.com). Pair it with a self-cleaning water bottle for a day out on the town ($85, livelarq.com). Point and Shoot This light camera ($120, papershootcamera.com) looks like a classic Polaroid, but doesn’t need to have photos developed. Instead, snapshots can be uploaded directly to your phone. Carry it in your bag with a clear, chic German lip balm from Augustinus Bader as seen on the model ($40, violetgrey.com). TRANSPORTING TV “I love Emily in Paris. During COVID, I watched the show to feel like I could be transported there when I wasn’t able to visit.” —Julie…

01 Spotted by Locals This app is great for getting off the beaten path in more than 65 cities around the world. It offers hundreds of recommendations from locals. 02 WiFi Map It lets users share passwords to networks, as well as tips on how to connect to local Wi-Fi. It works offline and shows you the closest Wi-Fi connection. 03 Huggnote Created by two sisters in Limerick, Ireland, this site lets you send a virtual hug and message accompanied by a song. It’s an upgrade from a postcard. 04 FlatTire If your bicycle breaks down in Amsterdam or you get a flat tire, you can use it to request assistance and they’ll send a bike mechanic. Pedal to the Medal Hoka’s sneakers ($160, hoka.com) first became popular with ultramarathoners…

CROSBY STREET AND HOWARD This quiet zone feels like a daytime version of Ed Hopper’s Nighthawks. MAIN STREET, FLUSHING, QUEENS The saturation of street signage reminds me of Taiwan, where I came from. THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM It’s the best place to let your body and mind wander. MADISON SQUARE PARK’S DOG RUN We take our two Shih Tzu dogs here on weekends. It’s so big.…

FOR GERI CUPI, FOUNDER AND CEO of Twig, a U.K. startup building financial solutions for the circular economy, the main challenge facing his business is the landfill—the tendency we have to toss out old stuff. Cupi launched Twig’s “Bank of Things” in July 2021. Through the Twig app, users can instantly claim the value of goods they want to discard, from iPhones to watches to designer handbags. Twig assigns values based on prices it pulls from resale websites such as Poshmark and the Real Real. After a user mails in an item, Twig does the work of putting it up for sale. In its first eight months, Twig’s mobile app surpassed 500,000 downloads. Now adding 100,000 users a month, the company is currently expanding into the U.S. and Europe. Cupi…

THE NEW SOLAR SHINGLES FROM GAF Energy, a spin-off of the world’s largest roofing company, can be nailed directly to the roof like ordinary shingles. Since the roofing industry is 20 times larger than the solar industry, the company hopes it can speed up the switch to renewables through its vast network of roofers. “We should be able to dramatically increase the adoption of solar by leveraging roofing economics and roofing scale, ” says Martin DeBono, president of GAF Energy FALL 2019 The team pitched the idea to GAF executives, even though “we had no idea if they would work or if they would be manufacturable, ” DeBono says. WINTER 2019 The new shingles had to be waterproof, fire-safe, and strong enough to walk on, yet transparent to let in…

Most Innovative Companies Jif, Café Bustelo, Folgers, Meow Mix, Milk-Bone. The J.M. Smucker Co.is home to some of the most recognizable brands on your grocery store’s shelves. But by 2018, many of them had gone stale. At least, that’s how Geoff Tanner, the company’s chief commercial and marketing officer, puts it. “They weren’t really a part of culture, ” he says. “They were a little dated, a little dull.” Worse yet, they weren’t growing. Tanner says that only 22% of the company’s portfolio was gaining market share at the time, a situation that demanded careful study—and drastic action. After a candid assessment of its brands, the company designed a marketing and selling playbook built on two pillars: next-level creativity and advanced data analytics. Brands like Jif, Folgers, and Meow Mix…

Most Innovative Companies Cardiologists have long been confounded by a particular problem in treating patients with buildups of hard calcium—a condition that can shrink and stiffen their blood vessels. In the past, operating on those with calcified buildups often meant risky and difficult procedures. Those dangers may be a thing of the past. A revolutionary process developed by medical device company Shockwave Medical utilizes sound waves generated from inside the blood vessels themselves to break up calcium deposits. The new treatment—safer and more effective than traditional methods—earned Shockwave a place on Fast Company’s list of the world’s Most Innovative Companies. “Shockwave makes treating a calcified vessel very similar to treating an uncalcified vessel in terms of risks and outcomes, ” says Doug Godshall, president and CEO of Shockwave. “The kinds…