Each year we pick the ideas, companies, applications and inventions that have amazed us with their unique solutions to common problems or marketplace voids, executed in forms both ultra-high-tech and strikingly simple.
We divide these innovators into the 10 categories that we believe best tap into the zeitgeist, and this year there's a lot that's new.
While we often highlight developments in the design, manufacturing and sale of clothing, we decided to expand our fashion coverage to include the ever-growing world of wearable gadgets, motivated by the rise of the Quantified Self movement. We take a look at how people are getting around in our Travel and Transportation category, and we've introduced a category we call The Human Factor, which examines companies that have found novel ways to address basic personal needs, often operating at the point where man and technology collide. Finally, with the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington and the allowance of cannabis for medical use in 20 other states, we decided it's high time we brought you a report on this budding industry. Consider it your reefer briefer.
We've been inspired by these ideas, and we hope you will be, too. And if you can take some of these concepts and apply them toward building your own business, well, that would be brilliant.
100 Brilliant Companies 
Modern Food and Drink
Hampton Creek Reinvents the Egg The San Francisco startup has developed a plant-based substitute that's both cheaper and healthier than the real thing. 
Fashion
This Visual-Recognition App Lets You Shop the Streets ASAP54 matches users' photos of apparel and accessories to identical or similar product images stored in its database. 
Music
Meet the Universal Platform for Sharing Music Bop.fm allows users of subscription music services to share songs and playlists with listeners of other services, such as Spotify. 
Social Media
Want Last Night's Sports Game to Remain Spoiler Free? There's an App for That. Spoiler Shield lets users to block all social media updates pertaining to certain TV shows and sports teams. 
Marketing
Connecting Brands With Cheap, Fresh and Creative Talent Advertising and digital marketing platform Zooppa partners with brands and agencies to create crowd-sourced commercials. 
Health and Fitness
How Your Smartphone Is Becoming Your Doctor Withings has created a series of health-care devices designed to integrate seamlessly with your smartphone. 
Marijuana
Dixie Elixirs Wants to Become the First National Marijuana Brand The company offers a range of cannabis products, including carbonated beverages, fudge bars and oil cartridges for vaporizer pens. 
Travel and Transportation
This Startup Is Revolutionizing Mobility for Wheelchair Users An electric car signals freedom for people with disabilities. 
Data and Analytics
This Software Is Making Ecommerce Companies Even Smarter Meta data and machine-learning software leads buyers straight to what they want. 
Hiring
The Case for Updating the Hiring Process Hiring platform Smarterer wants employers to ditch the resumes and evaluate job candidates through assessment tests.