Fast Company released its inaugural Best Workplaces for Innovators list, honoring companies that empower employees to create products, take risks and improve operations.
For its list, the business monthly magazine sorted through more than 360 applications from companies that answered 10 questions about research and development efforts and companywide programs and processes that promote innovation. All applications were then assessed by editors and researchers from Accenture, a professional services company.
The list honors 50 companies that build a culture of innovation by offering employees time to pursue bold projects, configuring work spaces to increase team collaborations, placing emphasis on inclusivity and giving people room to fail.
Of the 50 companies, here are the eight in healthcare that made the list:
1. Forward. This is a 3-year-old primary care practice based in New York City. It provides services for a monthly fee and pairs engineers with physicians to develop medical technology.
2. Genentech. A biotech based in San Francisco employs 120 postdoctoral fellows to help basic drug discovery research. The biotech also has an innovation fund that helps support employees with novel ideas and research that aren't necessarily being explored by the company.
3. Johnson & Johnson. This healthcare conglomerate, based in New Brunswick, N.J., began a program called TedxJNJ in 2011, a partnership with Ted Talk. The program has expanded into a vehicle for employees to share ideas, experiences and other information.
4. Klick. Based in Toronto, this digital health agency uses an innovation lab to experiment with emerging health technology. The company has produced a technology that records and transmits Parkinson's tremors in real time and a virtual reality app that offers patients 3D visuals of their internal medical conditions.
5. Merck. The New Jersey-based drugmaker spent nearly $10 billion on R&D in 2018 and announced an additional $16 billion investment in R&D projects over the next five years.
6. Notable. The company, based in San Francisco, uses automated laboratory and artificial intelligence to predict how cancer cells will react to drugs. It brings together teams of engineers, physicians and health experts and partners with pharmaceutical companies and research institutes.
7. Procter & Gamble. This consumer goods company based in Cincinnati, which also sells healthcare products, has a program dubbed GrowthWorks that assembles a small team to test solutions to consumer problems. It has more than 130 problem-solving experiments in the works.
8. Regeneron. This biotechnology company promotes research associates to staff scientists without a PhD, tracking and rewarding practical training and recognizing the value of real-world experience. It is based in Tarrytown, N.Y.
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US News' Best Hospitals 2019-20 Honor Roll