Roma named one of World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2020

New York-based Fast Company says its list honours the businesses making the most profound impact on both industry and culture, showcasing a variety of ways to thrive in today’s fast-changing world.

Roma are the only football club included in the list, and one of only two sports teams to feature, with the St Louis Blues hockey team also named.

This year’s World’s Most Innovative Companies list features businesses from 39 countries: including tech giants Snap, Microsoft and Apple as well as the likes of Tesla, DAZN and Bleacher Report.

Roma’s inclusion on the 2020 list was prompted by the club’s innovative use of social media to help search for missing children.

After partnering with charities all over the world, Roma displayed posters of over 100 missing children alongside footage of new signings when officially announcing transfers on social media.

The videos, which went viral thanks to fans of all clubs sharing them, were viewed more than 10 million times and six children who featured in the Roma campaign have now been found safe.

“It’s fantastic for AS Roma to be recognised by Fast Company in their World’s Most Innovative Companies list,” said Paul Rogers, Chief Strategy Officer at AS Roma.

“We passionately believe that we can make a positive difference to people’s lives when we use our media platforms for social good. Whether that’s producing a Coronavirus safety announcement video, as we did last week with our coach and players, or addressing the Syrian refugee crisis, as we did through our Football Cares project in 2015, we’ve consistently tried to use Roma’s communication channels in an innovative and socially responsible way.

"The Missing Children campaign has been an incredible success and on May 25, we are working with International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in an effort to bring the entire global football community together to try to reunite more missing children with their loved ones.”

Fast Company’s editors and writers say they sought out the most groundbreaking businesses on the planet and across myriad industries. The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s signature franchise which, they say, provides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.

“At a time of increasing global volatility, this year’s list showcases the resilience and optimism of businesses across the world,” said Fast Company senior editor Amy Farley, who oversaw the issue with deputy editor David Lidsky.

“These companies are applying creativity to solve challenges within their industries and far beyond.”

Fast Company explained the inclusion of Roma on their list by stating: “The Italian soccer club, owned by American James Pallotta, took a unique approach last year to the annual news hype around signing new players. As clubs around the world out-duel each other with elaborate social-media videos for each new star signing, Roma decided to harness that attention for good by pairing each new player signing with a notice for a missing child. As a result, as of January 2020, the effort had helped locate six missing children.”

Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies issue is now available online at fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2020 and will be on newsstands beginning March 17, 2020.