Fast Company Magazine Lists APL Among World’s “Most Innovative” Companies

Revolutionary breakthroughs in neurally controlled prosthetics of unprecedented capability by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have earned APL recognition as one of the world’s Most Innovative Companies of 2016 by Fast Company magazine.

The editors of Fast Company selected APL fifth on its list of the world’s 10 most innovative healthcare organizations, ahead of well-known companies such as CVS Health and IBM. The complete list appears online on the magazine’s website.

Led by APL and funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Revolutionizing Prosthetics program has created a number of new technologies and advanced the state of the art for numerous research disciplines as it created the world’s first artificial limb controlled by neural impulses.

“Innovations like this are only possible through the collaborative power of teams, and the Revolutionizing Prosthetics team — which spans 30 different organizations across the nation — is proud to receive this award,” said Alan Ravitz, APL's National Health program area manager. “Our accomplishments have shown the potential that exists to improve lives and create new avenues of research that could lead to even greater benefits for humanity.”

Spinoff technologies and developments from the Revolutionizing Prosthetics program have so far included advances in micro-engineering electrical and mechanical components, as well as innovative methods of controlling prostheses, including using eye movements or through groundbreaking developments in brain–computer interfaces that allow people to perform complex tasks using only the power of thought.

“This award recognizes our life-changing innovations in prosthetics, and is also representative of our culture in which innovations literally range from the deepest oceans on Earth to the farthest reaches of our solar system,” said APL Director Ralph Semmel.

Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies of 2016” list was compiled by their editors and writers, who sought out companies that are solving tough problems and using high-level creativity. The resulting list is “a collection of remarkable organizations that are truly disrupting business-as-usual across the world,” according to the publication.

To learn more about Revolutionizing Prosthetics at APL, visit http://www.jhuapl.edu/prosthetics/.