According to a BCG report, 79% of companies worldwide consider innovation to be one of their top three priorities this year. 66% plan to increase spending, of which 42% expect to increase by 10%. These figures are in stark contrast to the last recession in 2009, when less than two-thirds of companies listed innovation as one of their top three priorities and only 58% planned to increase spending.

Amid global uncertainty, companies continue to seek to innovate and develop their operating systems and the services they provide to their users. To this end, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has ranked the world's 50 most innovative companies in 2023.

The "Most Innovative Companies: 2023" report is based on the company's annual survey of more than a thousand executives around the world, asking about innovation trends and its performance database. In addition, it examines a company's commitment to innovation and how it builds resilience in the face of economic uncertainty. Despite the recession, 90% of leading innovators are increasing spending on technology and innovation.

Leading tech giants

Despite the huge challenges faced by large technology companies since 2022, five of them occupy the top ten positions and a total of nine are in the top 50.

Apple topped the list for the third consecutive year. Tesla moved up three places to second place. Meanwhile, Amazon remained in third place. In fourth place was Google's parent company Alphabet, and fifth place was completed by Microsoft. It should be noted that the biggest surprise was Meta, which did not make the top ten.

On the other hand, international energy companies occupied five positions, perhaps representing respondents’ concerns about climate change and their desire to make the energy industry part of the solution.

The 50 most innovative companies in 2023 are a geographically diverse group, roughly evenly split between North America and the rest of the world. Europe and Asia are strongly represented, with the Middle East joining the list for the first time. Here are the specific rankings:

The rise of artificial intelligence

The survey shows that artificial intelligence (AI) is expanding as one of the investment priorities of enterprises. By 2023, 61% of the companies surveyed will invest in this technology and machine learning.

This represents a 15 percentage point increase in interest compared to robotics and process automation, which were considered the second most attractive technologies for investment.

It is worth noting that 83% of these companies have systematically implemented AI to support innovation in one or more use cases: only 45% have successfully translated this into business impact.

Editor ✎Estella/

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