Apple Inc Named World's Most Innovative Company 2013, Samsung in Top 2 Spot; How to Promote Innovation (INFOGRAPHIC)

Apple Inc has once again bested other companies for the prestigious title of the World's Most Innovative Company in 2013. It is a well-known fact in the business world that, companies who remain on top are the ones that can think of the most creative approaches to an idea and act on it quickly.

Steve Jobs, the iconic and former CEO of Apple Inc, will be happy to know that Apple has been named for the ninth time in a row as Boston Consulting Group's most innovative company in the world.

Samsung Electronics has overtaken Google Inc for the second spot. Google Inc held the second most innovative company title from 2006 to 2012. Samsung has quickly rose to second place from being in the middle of the list at number 26 in 2008. The Korean electronics giant and maker of the highly popular Samsung Galaxy S series has since shown consistent performance which clinched the company second place.

While tech companies seem to have dominated the top spots, the automobile industry made a significant appearance in the world's most innovative list in 2013. Electric car manufacturer Tesla, entrepreneur Elon Musk's brainchild, landed on the list for the first time. Conventional car manufacturers Ford and BMW also made it to the Top 10.

Kim Wagner, Boston Consulting Group's senior partner and co-author of the World's Most Innovative Companies report, said that technology and telecommunications still remain to be a significant part of innovation. Ms Wagner also said traditional companies that made it to the list have improved in their ability to innovate a product, process or technology. Aside from technology companies, car manufacturers are also leading the way in innovation.

In the 2013 report, up and coming companies are recognised for their innovation. These companies are yet to reach global status and are usually relatively young. Under this category, companies like Groupon, Alibaba, Line, Pinterest, Netflix, Spotify, Rakuten, Square, WhatsApp and the "Apple of China" Xiaomi Technologies are included.

The Boston Consulting Group's report was based on information taken from more than 1,500 senior executives in a global survey that spans a wide range of industries around the world. Most of the respondents of the survey said that innovation is one out of three priorities for the companies.

Top 20 World's Most Innovative Companies for 2013

1. Apple
2. Samsung
3. Google
4. Microsoft
5. Toyota
6. IBM
7. Amazon
8. Ford
9. BMW
10. General Electric
11. Sony
12. Facebook
13. General Motors
14. Volkswagen
15. Coca-Cola
16. Hewlett-Packard
17. Hyundai
18. Honda
19. Audi
20. Daimler

Critics of Apple Inc may not agree with the result based on the mixed reactions on Apple's iOS 7 software upgrade and the latest iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S. Critics of Samsung might question the company being in second place based on Samsung's announcement that it will also make a gold-coloured smartphone with fingerprint scanner and 64-bit technology after Apple Inc released its gold iPhone 5S with 64-bit technology and fingerprint scanner.

Others might say Google or Microsoft deserves to be on the top spot. But what really fosters innovation? Here's an infographic sourced from Entrepreneur to help explain what innovation is all about.