FINDING THE SPARK
Is innovation dead? From some angles, it might look that way. Many of the companies we expect to churn out breakthrough technologies are instead, and rightly, focused on rebuilding trust with their employees, customers, and local communities. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post that he spent almost all of last year on issues regarding free speech, privacy, and well-being. (For more on Facebook’s privacy woes, check out Shoshana Zuboff’s probing essay on page 16.) It is hard to imagine he’s had much time to code or plot new products. But look closer, as Fast Company did in researching our 12th annual Most Innovative Companies list, and you’ll see that the innovative spark remains strong—just elsewhere. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is making it easier for physicians to address previously…