Tech giants dominate The Boston Consulting Group's 2020 list of 50 Serial Innovators.

Of the 14 editions of the list, only 8 companies are included each year.

The world's most innovative companies have grown in size over time.

The best innovators "walk the talk," use the company's size to good effect, and continually tweak the innovation system to succeed.

The Boston Consulting Group released its "Most Innovative Companies 2020: The Continuous Innovation Imperative" study, which selected the 50 most innovative companies in the world.

Tech giants occupy the upper echelons of the list. Compared to last year, Apple moved up two places to take the top spot. Google's parent company Alphabet came in second, with Amazon in third, followed by Microsoft and Samsung.

In the 14 editions so far, there are 162 companies on the list. This year's top seed, Apple, is one of eight companies selected each year, along with Alphabet, Amazon, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Samsung and Japan's Toyota.

Other innovators include Germany's BMW and Cisco Systems, both of which featured in 13 editions of the top 50. Only 20 companies made the list more than 10 times, and 48 companies made the list only once.

Who says continuous innovation is easy?

New entrants to this year's list include online retailer JD.com, engineering and appliance maker Bosch, technology companies ABB, Novartis Pharmaceuticals and carmakers FCA and Volvo.

Among the established companies, some companies have risen rapidly in the rankings, including Huawei, which has improved the fastest, rising 42 places to 6th. Other top companies include Wal-Mart and Hewlett-Packard, both up 29 places.

Consistent with words and deeds

The report says the most innovative companies are those that make the need for continuous innovation a top priority and support that innovation with a coherent strategy and adequate investment. This group makes up 45 percent of the more than 1,000 companies participating in the Boston Consulting Group's Global Innovation Survey. The survey released a list of the top 50 innovative companies.

On the other hand, 30 percent of companies in the survey are "skeptical innovators," meaning less emphasis on a clear innovation strategy or investment.

A quarter of companies are in the middle, showing inconsistent or indifferent attitudes towards innovation and its importance to the business.

The report said "steady innovators" prevailed, with nearly 60 percent of companies surveyed saying that the share of sales of products and services launched in the past three years had increased, compared with just 30 percent of skeptics.

huge benefit

The report notes that large companies are increasingly using their size to "show innovative prowess."

The report refutes the popular notion that smaller companies are the most nimble and innovative, saying large companies have an advantage in developing successful products or services and creating progressive business models.

Such barriers to innovation cited by large companies include not allocating resources to promising projects and involving the entire organization in the strategy.

This year, for companies large and small, the ability to innovate has been especially important as they navigate the disruption wrought by COVID-19.

The study of the top 50 innovative companies began before the onset of Covid-19, but the report says its big findings could be even more important as innovation leaders try to escape the disruptions of the pandemic.