Fast Company Announces Winners Of 2017 World Changing Ideas Awards

HONOREES OF AWARD INCLUDE AIRBNB, GE, ETSY, AND MICROSOFT

FINALISTS AND WINNERS TO BE HIGHLIGHTED IN FAST COMPANY'S APRIL ISSUE

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Mar 20, 2017, 12:00 ET

NEW YORK, March 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Fast Company is today announcing the winners of its premiere World Changing Ideas Awards, which honor businesses, policies, projects, and concepts that offer innovative solutions to the issues facing humanity. All of the finalists are highlighted in the April issue of the print magazine, which hits newsstands on March 27.

Launched this year, the World Changing Ideas Awards showcase 12 winners and nearly 200 finalists. A panel of eminent judges selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 1,200 entries in 12 categories, from Food to Energy to Developing World Technology. Honorees include big-name brands like GE and Microsoft, nonprofits like Ideo.org and the U.N. World Food Programme, and innovative startups like Beyond Meat, Otto, and Hyperloop One. The 2017 awards featured entries from across the globe, from Pakistan to Brazil to Kenya.

"Fast Company has always insisted that being a force for good has to be a key element for any business," says Fast Company editor and managing director Robert Safian. "These World Changing Idea award winners show how organizations around the world are embracing the ideals of creativity and innovation to create enormous impact."

Fast Company's April issue celebrates these world changing ideas, highlighting Charity: Water, and its new models for fundraising and accountability for nonprofits; Impossible foods, which has created a plant-based burger that bleeds like real meat; GE, which is building new wind turbines that can supply energy even when wind isn't blowing; and Microsoft, which has teamed up with doctors in India to use big data to direct medical dollars where they're most needed.

About the World Changing Ideas Awards: World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company's major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners and finalists based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With a goal of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start work on solving the problems that affect us all.

SOURCE Fast Company