Johns Hopkins APL Earns Sixth Straight Selection to Fast Company’s 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators List

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has again been named by Fast Company as one of the Best Workplaces for Innovators in 2024. APL placed 42nd among this year’s list of the 100 most innovative companies from around the world, selected from nearly 1,000 organizations. This year marks the Lab’s sixth straight placement in the top 50 — APL is the only organization to achieve this feat since the award’s inception in 2019, and one of only two companies to have been named to the list every year.  

“Being named to this impressive list six years in a row is a testament to the ingenuity and dedication of our staff members and the culture of innovation we have at the Laboratory,” said APL Director Ralph Semmel. “Together, we have built on APL’s outstanding foundation of technical excellence and fostered an environment where researchers can explore and develop bold new concepts that have game-changing impact for our nation.”

A critical component of APL’s innovation culture is its commitment to substantial internal investments for research and development, state-of-the-art facilities, and significant capital projects. Every year, the Lab allocates tens of millions of dollars toward developing ideas to address challenges of critical importance to our nation, both through internal R&D projects and initiatives aimed at advancing innovative concepts.  

APL was also recognized as a finalist in the General Excellence category, which identifies established and pervasive innovation cultures that have yielded remarkable results. The Lab’s heritage of developing cutting-edge scientific and engineering advances for the nation began in 1942 during World War II, and today includes contributions in air and missile defense, undersea systems, space science and engineering, cyber, biotechnology, global health, climate security, and artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The Lab has previously appeared on Fast Company lists of top innovative companies for breakthroughs in environmental science, space, and health care. A total of 10 different APL innovations have been honored with Fast Company World Changing Idea awards.

Developed in collaboration with Accenture, the Fast Company 2024 Best Workplaces for Innovators list ranks 100 winners in a variety of industries, including technology, entertainment, marketing, education, health care and many more.