Digital Experiences Agency Active Theory Vaults onto Fast Company's 2022 Most Innovative Companies List

Active Theory, the award-winning creative digital experiences agency, was named to Fast Company's annual list of the Most Innovative Companies for 2022, landing a spot on the Top 10 most innovative companies in the live events category, which encompassed dynamic real-time experiences as the pandemic—and remote gatherings—continued to impact daily life.  

The prestigious list honours businesses that are making the biggest impact on their industries and culture as a whole—ultimately thriving in today’s ever-changing world. These companies are creating the future today with some of the most inspiring accomplishments of the 21st century.

Active Theory builds award-winning immersive digital experiences for some of the world’s top brands and leading artists of the day. Active Theory was recognized by Fast Company editorial judges for its Dreamwave platform which allows the agency’s creative team and technologists to create web-based virtual events and microverses—connected, socially driven destinations within the metaverse designed to envelop the user in a branded world.

“Receiving this recognition from Fast Company is a complete thrill as we’ve tracked the list for years to stay on top of the companies that are changing industries and, in many ways, even the world,” said Active Theory’s Co-Founder and Interactive Director, Active Theory’s Co-Founder and Interactive Director, Michael Anthony Anthony. “As a digital specialist, Active Theory has always thrived on the leading edge, the unconventional. Through the last two years of rampant digital transformation, we’ve found that businesses are more eager to take the trip and embrace innovative marketing technologies, and we are grateful that through their collaborations with us, Active Theory has earned its own place on the list.” 

In recent months, Active Theory has created virtual worlds that span an EDM festival for artist and producer Porter Robinson and captivating digital interludes for attendees of The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything event. As professional events moved online during the pandemic, another highlight of 2021 was an immersive 3D experience for the Cardano Summit, which mixed live and virtual events that brought over 140,000 people from 180+ countries together for an average of 20 minutes on site around the future of cryptocurrency and the Cardano blockchain, which Fast Company judges cited as particularly noteworthy for combining a “microverse with seven explorable worlds designed around conference topics.”

Active Theory also created enlivened online business-to-business events for Google and HubSpot, allowing conference attendees to roam freely by avatar and strike up conversations through chat bubbles. A similar platform was built for virtual Sundance Film Festival-goers. Meanwhile, Xbox tapped the agency to celebrate its milestone  20th anniversary with a shared-space digital museum. 

Fast Company’s editors and writers sought out the most groundbreaking businesses across the globe and industries. They also judged nominations received through their application process.

The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.

“The world’s most innovative companies play an essential role in addressing the most pressing issues facing society, whether they’re fighting climate change by spurring decarbonization efforts, ameliorating the strain on supply chains, or helping us reconnect with one another over shared passions,” said Fast Company Deputy Editor David Lidsky.

For the second year in a row, to coincide with the issue launch, Fast Company will host its Most Innovative Companies Summit on April 26–27. The virtual, multiday summit celebrates the Most Innovative Companies in business, and provides an early look at major business trends and an inside look at what it takes to innovate in 2022. Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2022) is available online here, as well as in app form via iTunes, and on newsstands beginning March 15. The hashtag is #FCMostInnovative.