Fast Company's 2021 'World Changing Ideas Awards' honors the businesses, policies, projects, and concepts that are actively engaged and deeply committed to pursuing innovation when it comes to solving health and climate crises, social injustice, or economic inequality. The most world-changing companies of the year were selected by Fast Company editors.
Finalists among others were:
Vertical Harvest Farms: The company received three Honorable Mention awards for Best World Changing Idea North America, Food and Social Justice categories.
Nona Yehia, CEO of Vertical Harvest Farms said, “We are incredibly proud to be recognized by Fast Company, and amongst so many other inspiring visionaries in this year’s awards.” Yehia continued, “We have a mission to build smarter, greener, and more equitable urban farms that strengthen our local food systems and the jobs they create to make them more nourishing, resilient, sustainable, and profitable. We are paving the way to tell the story of why vertical farming is important to us all.”
AeroFarms: The company was placed in: Best World Changing Idea North America, Corporate Social Responsibility and Established Excellence.
"We are thrilled to share that AeroFarms is recognized as Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas for the fourth year in a row across three unique categories! We are honored to receive the recognition as we continue our mission of growing the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity."
CubicFarm Systems Corp.: The company received an honorable mention in the Best World Changing Idea – North America category.
"We're delighted to be recognized in Fast Company's World Changing Ideas Awards," says Dave Dinesen, CEO of CubicFarms. "We need to continue investing in technologies that use automation to maximize efficiencies while using our existing natural resources more responsibly, sustainably, and affordably."
Plenty: The company was recognized in the 'Established Excellence: 5-14 Years in Business' category honoring its Crispy Lettuce. Alongside, Plenty was recognized as an Honoree alongside Driscoll’s, in the Food category for its partnership to grow Driscoll’s strawberries indoors, year-round.
“It's an incredible honor for Plenty to be recognized not only for our achievement in food innovation, but also the work we are doing with partners like Driscoll’s,” said Nate Storey, co-founder, and chief science officer at Plenty. “2021 promises to be a year of continued innovation, as we add more crops to our indoor towers and prepare to open the world’s highest-output vertical farm in Compton, California.”
AppHarvest: The company was an honorable mention in this year’s food category for its educational container farm program.
“Our mission to increase access to healthy, sustainably grown food is being realized on a hyper-local scale with our AgTech educational program,” said AppHarvest Founder & CEO Jonathan Webb. “To address failing food infrastructure effectively, the entire country will need to band together with more innovative solutions like those highlighted in this year’s Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards.”
Worldwide selection of companies
Now in its fifth year, the World Changing Ideas Awards showcase 33 winners, more than 400 finalists, and more than 800 honorable mentions with Health and Wellness, AI & Data among the most popular categories. A panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 4,000 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology, and more. The 2021 awards feature entries from across the globe, from Brazil to Denmark to Vietnam.
For more information:
Fast Company
www.fastcompany.com