IKEA, Apple, and John Deere Identified as the Top Three Trailblazers for 2025
New York, NY – Oct 22, 2025 – In today’s competitive business environment, U.S. companies are striving harder than ever before to keep up with their customers’ continuously evolving preferences and demands while simultaneously driving innovation. The American Innovation Index™ (Aii), now in its eighth year of providing important insights into the mindset of the American consumer, scores which companies’ consumers sense they are the most innovative within their sector. Results of the 2025 Aii have just been published, and three multinational industry giants—IKEA, Apple, and John Deere—have secured the top spots.
According to the Index, which is based upon research that is conducted and compiled by Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, Radius Global Market Research, and the Norwegian School of Economics, those companies that stand out from their competitors in the minds of consumers do so because of their products and services (including continually introducing new ones, offering variety and stylish design, striving for excellence) and being first to market with new ideas. The top 10 companies, listed below, consist of a variety of household brands in industries that range from automotive and consumer durables/ equipment industry to general merchandise retailers/etailers to specialty retailers, yet in the minds of consumers they consistently deliver on the qualities that matter most. The full index goes far beyond these categories, focusing on 16 industries.
“The Aii is the only index that ranks the level of innovation based upon consumer perceptions and interactions with a company. It is unique in that it measures innovation from the customer point of view rather than on expert opinions, which often ignore customers’ experiences,” said Barbara M. Porco, Ph.D., CPA, CFF, managing director at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business’ Responsible Business Center (RBC). “While the index measures innovation, consumers also favor companies that are secure, easy to do business with, have a strong web presence, and have a customer-friendly website and app that makes it easy to conduct business, are those most likely to rank in the top positions.”
“This study captures consumer sentiment in a variety of ways,” noted Gina Woodall, vice president and study lead at Radius. “Companies that are seen as innovative by their customers are overall more appealing and garner greater loyalty, ultimately achieving higher success than others.”
Two interesting observations gleaned from the Index include the fact that, while it is often assumed value for the money and reward programs are most important to consumers, these factors are not key in determining whether a company is considered innovative. In addition—at this early stage—the use of AI by a company does not seem to be a major factor in the ways in which consumers perceive it as being innovative or not.
The 2025 top 10 most innovative companies as chosen by consumers include:
The survey also analyzed a company’s Social Innovation Index (Sii), defined as innovation that benefits society and the environment based upon the experiences of customers.
Consumers also primarily ranked automotive brands high for social innovation, with the top 10 overall brands including:
8th Annual American Innovation Index Now Part of the Good Business is Good Business Conference
The 4th Good Business is Good Business Conference, featuring the 8th Annual American Innovation Index, brings together business leaders, innovators, and academics to explore how innovation and responsibility intersect to drive sustainable growth and social impact.
The morning program spotlights the latest insights from the American Innovation Index™ and Social Innovation Index™, highlighting how customer-perceived innovation is reshaping industries. Through keynotes, panels, and fireside conversations, attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how AI, social responsibility, and customer trust are transforming the business landscape.
In the afternoon, the focus shifts to Good Business: exploring emerging approaches such as natural asset companies, transparent sustainability reporting, and forward-looking models of responsible leadership. With contributions from industry experts and faculty thought leaders, the program underscores how innovative thinking and social responsibility together define the future of business.
By the end of the day, participants will leave with actionable insights, research-driven perspectives, and real-world examples of how to align innovation with responsibility to create meaningful impact for customers, communities, and society.
The Good Business Conference will be held March 12, 2026 at the Fordham University Law School.
About the American Innovation Index™
Through the combined research efforts of Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, market research company Radius, and the Norwegian School of Economics, the American Innovation Index™ scores and ranks the innovativeness of U.S. companies based upon customers’ experiences. The 8th annual study was conducted in May-June 2025, and covers 164 firms from 16 industries, spanning travel, financial services, technology, communications, retailing and manufacturing. The study surveyed 5,145 consumers and covered 24,236 customer-company relationships. No large-scale, scientifically vetted measure of customer-perceived innovation exists in the United States. The study is part of the Innovation Index Coalition (IIC), which includes parallel studies in 9 countries. For more information about the Aii and a full list of company rankings, view the full market report.
About Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business
Founded in 1920, the mission of the Fordham University Gabelli School of Business is to inspire and empower positive global change, developing students into compassionate business leaders and supporting faculty members and students in the ongoing generation of new knowledge. The Gabelli School has become a driver of social innovation by equipping graduates to be business leaders who understand and meet the need for sustainability in business and who are able to harness the power of social responsibility for both financial success and societal impact. Through its many graduate and undergraduate degree programs and a diverse range of faculty research initiatives, the Gabelli School of Business works collectively to redesign business as a sustainable force for prosperity. The Gabelli School of Business is home to the Responsible Business Center, a platform for interdisciplinary engagement in ESG and sustainability that fosters cross-industry collaboration and action towards ESG, advances research, and supports business school learnings.
About Radius Global Market Research
Radius is a full-service marketing research consultancy founded in 1960. Headquartered in New York City, Radius has offices throughout the U.S, London, Dubai and other locations globally. Radius focuses on understanding the critical points of a brand’s growth journey to help drive long-term success. The Brand Growth Navigator is the company’s strategic approach to prioritizing the critical business-building issues to tackle, from identifying compelling innovations to creating relevant customer segmentations. Radius’ 60+ years of global brand-building expertise has included partnerships with Fortune 500 leaders as well as with emerging and start-up brands in more than 60 countries. www.radiusinsights.com
About NHH Norwegian School of Economics
With partnerships with over 200 universities and business schools worldwide, NHH is Norway’s premier choice for business education, ranked on the FT list of business education, and ranked among the top 20 in Europe, serving around 3,670 students and employing 473 faculty and staff. NHH is the founding institution of The Innovation Index Coalition (IIC), which is a global collective of academic research partners who are committed to infusing the customer perspective into the discourse surrounding invention and innovation. IIC was founded in 2023 by researchers from The Norwegian School of Economics, and it now includes prominent institutions in 9 countries. The driving force behind this collaboration is the seminal work carried out in the development of the Norwegian Innovation Index (the world’s first customer-based ranking of most innovative firms) at The Norwegian School of Economics in 2016.
