Every year the World Economic Forum picks a number of up-and-coming technology startups from around the world and dubs them Technology Pioneers. Past members of this club include Google, Mozilla, Mint, Etsy, Twitter, Amiando, Playfish, Obopay, CloudFlare, Palantir, Kickstarter and Brightcove.
Today, The World Economic Forum announced 23 new members of the 2013 class of Technology Pioneers, who will be honored at a conference in China in September. This year’s group includes, AlienVault, Anhui LIGOO New Energy Technology, Azuri Technologies, Coulomb Technologies, Enphase Energy, Ingenuity Systems, LanzaTech, Liquid Robotics, Lookout Mobile Security, MC10, Mind Candy, PassivSystems, Practice Fusion, PrimeSense, Promethean Power Systems, RightScale, shopkick, SoundCloud, Tobii Technology, Transphorm, va-Q-tec, Vidyo and Voltea.
According to the organization, Technology Pioneers are chosen on the basis how innovative a company is, the potential impact on society, growth and sustainability, proof of concept, leadership and more.
Since the World Economic Forum launched the program in 2000, there have been 500 selected as Technology Pioneers. Among them, about 75% are still independent and 25% have been acquired by industry leaders.