How to write a successful MIC application

Before you apply to be considered to be one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies for 2019, check out our advice for how best to approach your nomination.

Lead with 2018 innovations

Do not start by telling us your company’s history. Most Innovative Companies is not a lifetime achievement award. A successful application details what your company has done in 2018 to stand out in its category. The centerpiece of a company’s case can be an initiative that started earlier, but you need to identify how you’ve built upon that work successfully in 2018.

Focus on a project

Tell us about a particular initiative at your company. It’s not enough merely to state that your product or strategy is innovative. The key is to identify what’s novel in what you’re doing and delineate how and why it’s different from what’s come before.

Be specific

Use details to build a strong case for innovation. What makes you most excited when you think about what you’ve developed? What are the features of what you’re doing that your customers are buzzing about?

Demonstrate impact

Provide metrics—user numbers, revenue growth, customer satisfaction rates, and the like—that illustrate the positive impact of your innovation on the company and beyond.

Connect the dots

There should be a clear, recent connection between the innovation and the impact of that innovation. We judge companies on a sliding scale of impact and innovation. Some companies’ innovations are so bold that they don’t need to show massive impact just yet. In other instances, the story is about the breakthrough performance of a previously introduced innovation.   

Put your dent in the universe

How are your innovations impacting your industry? Society? How are they driving a public conversation? The more you can make the case that you’re leading a significant change—again, with data to support it—the better your application.

Frame your story in a larger context

We love a good story and a surprising, perhaps unsung, contributor who’s shaping the future. Are you championing a new approach to an old problem? Are your innovations transforming the way we think about a segment of our society? How are you reframing a civic debate about the future with your innovative products and strategy?

Finish the job

If you’re an architecture firm, completed buildings will garner more attention than renderings. If you’re a pharmaceutical company, an FDA-approved drug matters more than a promising clinical trial. In-progress ideas will certainly be considered, but completing the work counts.   

Give us a sneak preview

If there are new products or announcements that you know will be released before the end of the year and that could improve your case, please share this information so we can follow up to learn more.

Less is more

We know this is counterintuitive, but trust us: Focus on the thing that best reflects how your company approaches innovation rather than rattling off a laundry list of initiatives that may not be as important. Including everything you did this year will simply weaken the case for the most notable things you have achieved. Bring your biggest ideas to life.