MIT CALLS SAN DIEGO COMPANY THE SMARTEST

LOOK WHO'S NUMBER ONE!                                                                                                    from MIT Technology Review

TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE--GUEST BLOG—By Brian Bergstein, MIT Technology Review.

It might sound difficult to define what makes a smart company, but you know one when you see it. When such a company commercializes a truly innovative technology, things happen: leadership in a market is bolstered or thrown up for grabs. Competitors have to refine or rethink their strategies.

This is what the editors of MIT Technology Review looked for as we assembled this list from organizations around the nation.

We didn’t count patents or PhDs; instead, we asked whether a company had made strides in the past year that will define its field. The biggest of these strides happened at Illumina in San Diego, which is driving down the price of DNA sequencing to levels that will change the practice of medicine. We also found dramatic developments on the Web, in batteries, and even in agricultural technologies.

Familiar names such as Apple and Facebook aren’t on this list because reputation doesn’t matter. We’re highlighting where important innovations are happening right now.

Jason Pontin, publisher and editor in chief of MIT Technology Review, states, “At times it seems impossible to keep pace with important emerging technologies. This issue celebrates companies from 11 U.S. states and six countries—organizations at the forefront in displaying ‘disruptive innovation’ that will prove to surpass the competition, transform an industry, and change our lives.”

Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/

For more on Illumina: http://www.illumina.com/company/about_us.ilmn

Fyi: Check out who is #18 on the MIT list.  San Diegans be proud.