Meet the Tech Pioneers of 2011

Each year the World Economic Forum recognizes small companies whose innovations could help change the world. This year's crop is the most diverse ever

By Jennifer L. Schenker

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John Adler was frustrated. The vice-chairman for innovation and technology in the Neurosurgery Dept. at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Adler has authored more than 180 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters during his career. Yet like many equally accomplished researchers, he was forced to endure long delays when trying to publish papers in medical journals.

What Adler wanted was a way to make his findings available to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. That wish inspired his son Trip and a fellow recent graduate from Harvard named Jared Friedman to create Scribd, an online document-sharing site that makes it easy for anyone to publish original work on the Web and reach a global readership.

Scribd is one of the 31 companies named Sept. 1 as 2011 Technology Pioneers by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF). The award recognizes startups whose innovative products or services could have a big impact on the world. Scribd, for instance, didn't just provide an outlet for Trip Adler's father (who was himself a 2008 Tech Pioneer, making the Adlers the first father-son honorees): Some 50 million people per month now browse its contents, which include research papers, short stories, sheet music, recipes, books, magazines, comics, and architectural diagrams. The company earns money from advertising and premium services—and by taking a cut of sales of content sold through the site.

Every year since 2000, the WEF—with the help of a panel of 68 experts (the author of this article served as one of the judges)—has chosen for the same honor anywhere from 25 to 50 startups. All told, some 472 companies have been recognized as Tech Pioneers over the past decade, including some that went on to huge success, such as Google (GOOG) and PayPal (EBAY). To be selected, companies must be developing life-changing innovations and have the potential to bring about long-term changes to business and society. They must also demonstrate visionary management, show signs of becoming enduring market leaders, and offer proven technology.

Startups From Five Continents

The class of 2011—chosen from a pool of 300 nominees—is changing the world in all sorts of ways: creating more effective medicines and medical treatments, improving how businesses communicate, reducing pollution, and making cars and building materials more energy efficient. "This year's class is particularly fascinating," says Rodolfo Lara, who has run the Technology Pioneers program at the World Economic Forum for the past three years. "For the first time, we have startups from five continents selected for the award, underlining the global need for innovation and entrepreneurship."

While the WEF grants the prizes to companies, rather than individuals, the people behind these companies clearly have an impact on the world. While their innovations are sometime esoteric, the entrepreneurs often have very down-to-earth motivations, including solving basic human problems or even answering dilemmas posed by their families. Most also share a common thirst for new challenges and a passion for creating new enterprises.

Take Jonathan Rothberg, the 47-year-old founder of Ion Torrent Systems, another 2011 Tech Pioneer, which promises to put gene sequencing technology within reach of any lab or clinic. The result could be faster introduction of personalized medicine and even nonmedical products, such as better biofuels. Ion Torrent is the third company founded by Rothberg to be named a WEF Technology Pioneer in the past six years—and the second, he says, inspired by his son Noah.

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