SEATTLE, WA – May 2, 2023 – The winners of Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Awards were announced today, honoring sustainable designs, innovative products, bold social initiatives, and other creative projects that are changing the way we work, live, and interact with the world.
First Mode’s proof-of-concept hybrid hydrogen and battery powerplant, which replaced a diesel engine in a 200-ton ultra-class haul truck, was recognized as an honoree across five awards: Winner in the Mid-sized Business Category; Finalist in the Sustainability/Energy and General Excellence categories; and Honorable Mention in the Climate and North America categories.
This year’s World Changing Ideas Awards showcase 45 winners, 216 finalists, and more than 300 honorable mentions—with health, climate, energy, and AI among the most popular categories. A panel of Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 2,200 entries across urban design, education, nature, politics, technology, corporate social responsibility, and more. The awards will be published in Fast Company’s Spring 2023 issue (on newsstands May 9, 2023).
“First Mode is honored to be recognized by Fast Company for our proof-of-concept nuGen™ haulage solution,” said Rhae Adams, First Mode’s Chief Growth and Sustainability Officer. “Our hybrid solution is the first zero-emission haul truck to operate in a live mining environment, demonstrating that our solution is a commercially viable alternative to diesel. It’s an honor to work alongside the exceptional team at First Mode who dedicate their creativity, passion, and voice to changing the world for the better.”
“It’s thrilling to see the creativity and innovation that are so abundant among this year’s honorees,” says Fast Company editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan. “While it’s easy to feel discouraged by the state of the world, the entrepreneurs, companies, and nonprofits featured in this package show the limitless potential to address society’s most urgent problems. Our journalists have highlighted some of the most exciting and impactful work being done today—from housing to equity to sustainability—and we look forward to seeing not only how these projects evolve but how they inspire others to develop solutions of their own.”
About the World Changing Ideas Awards:
World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all.
About First Mode:
First Mode is a global carbon reduction company developing creative, clean energy solutions for heavy industry’s toughest problems. We started by removing the diesel engine from a colossal mining truck and replacing it with a hybrid hydrogen and battery powerplant. A world-first, and the world’s largest. But we’re not stopping there. We are also working on providing critical mine site infrastructure for hydrogen production, battery recharging, and hydrogen refueling. Today, we’re starting at the source, the mining industry, and tomorrow the larger supply chain, to completely eliminate the use of diesel and speed the clean energy transition. www.firstmode.com
