Apple number 16 on the list of the ’50 Smartest Companies’

MIT Technology Review has released its 2017 list of the 50 Smartest Companies. Apple ranks number 16 on the list of honorees who, over the last 12 months, “have taken risks and demonstrated superior technological leadership and business acumen in their fields.”

“The companies on the list combine a high level of technology innovation with a business model that will help them make the most of it,” says Nanette Byrnes, senior editor for business, MIT Technology Review. “Public and private, large and small, based in countries around the globe, this group of companies is creating new opportunities and pouncing on them. These are the ones that competitors must follow.”

Artificial intelligence, a technology that MIT Technology Review believes will drive much of the economic growth over the next few years, is sprinkled throughout the list. The company at the top, Nvidia, has gained expertise in AI and used it to transform itself. Once known as a maker of chips for gaming, it is now a leading player in deep learning and autonomous vehicles, says Byrnes.

Apple makes the list because it’s “Minting money selling its popular mobile phones and laptops while adding impressive names to its AI research team and promising to do more manufacturing in the U.S.”

Founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1899, MIT Technology Review is a digitally oriented independent media company whose analysis, features, reviews, interviews, and live events explain the commercial, social, and political impact of new technologies.