June 16, 2014

Bloomberg Businessweek, June 2014

The Boston Globe Announces Inaugural Game Changers Magazine
June 12, 2014
Bloomberg Businessweek

The Pulitzer-Prize winning Boston Globe today announced the inaugural issue of Game Changers Magazine, recognizing 56 entrepreneurial organizations with a presence in Massachusetts in 2013 that made a significant economic and life-changing impact, here and worldwide.

The organizations and products featured in the 58-page magazine were selected from more than 100 public nominations and by Globe business reporters.

“We defined ”˜game changer’ as any corporation (private or public), academic institution, health care provider, nonprofit, or startup with a Massachusetts presence in 2013 that accomplished something remarkable or cool,” said Mark Pothier, Boston Globe business editor. “Our inaugural 56 are the embodiment of that definition, and we’re eager to highlight their tremendous contributions to the economy and Massachusetts’ status as a hotbed of innovation.”

The magazine will be published online June 13 at bostonglobe.com/gamechangers, and in the print edition on June 15. Readers can also follow updates on Twitter @GlobeBiz and #GlobeGameChangers.

Game Changers represents the evolution of the 25-year-old Globe 100 list, which recognized the best performing publicly held companies in Massachusetts. Game Changers casts a wider net and celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of Massachusetts by considering any type of innovative organization that significantly makes a contribution to the local economy and to people worldwide.

Here’s a sampling of the inaugural Game Changers:

  • BiOM of Bedford, Mass., has developed a bionic ankle that replicates muscle tendon function, giving more than 1,000 people (including many war veterans) the ability to walk with a more normal gait.
  • Biogen Idec, the Cambridge, Mass. biotech giant, introduced a pill for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, called Tecfidera. Its ease of use, effectiveness and safety made it one the most successful drug launches in American history.
  • Third Rock Ventures of Boston finances biotech startups tackling big problems. The company’s ground-up approach to incubation last year propelled three of its portfolio companies to public offerings raising a combined $328 million.
  • Boston-based Lovin’ Spoonfuls solves two problems: the epidemic of wasted food, and hunger. The organization picks up fresh food more than a million pounds of it last year alone that would otherwise be discarded by grocery stores, wholesalers, farmer’s markets and others, and distributes it to nonprofits feeding the hungry.
  • iRobot Corp. of Bedford has developed a telepresence bot called the Ava 500. Users can “log in” to the device from anywhere in the world and it roams freely as if you were there in person, eliminating the limitations of distance.

“The Globe will always be a primary source of business and technology news,” said Steve Syre, Globe business columnist and editor of the 2014 Game Changers Magazine. “But there’s more to innovation than the bottom line. We will find and bring readers stories of visionaries solving not only business problems, but also health and societal problems. Those are the real game changers.”

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