How We Created the 2021 Disruptors List:

or the initial list, Newsweek solicited nominations from more than 100 experts and change makers in a variety of fields, as well as our staff. The Disruptors research team, led by Newsweek Senior Reporter Kerri Anne Renzulli and Newsweek Fellow Meghan Gunn, also combed research by universities, tech incubators, venture capital firms, futurists and other tech experts and organizations, to identify additional promising work that met our definition of disruption. To be considered, candidates had to be employing technology in a way that is driving fundamental, transformative change in business, health, the environment, culture or society—typically with measurable real-world results—or have clear and demonstrable potential to do so. Over six months, a short list of roughly 100 candidates was created, then culled to the final 50, through research, interviews and the judgment of the Disruptors team and Newsweek editors, led by Diane Harris, Newsweek’s deputy editor in chief, and Fred Guterl, special projects editor, former executive editor of Scientific American and author of The Fate of the Species: Why the Human Race May Cause Its Own Extinction and What We Can Do About It.