2014 Next List honorees

People outside the state don’t always look at Maine as a hotbed of innovation. Even among Mainers there are some who look to bigger markets for the lead (while at the same time decrying Maine’s last-place ranking on Forbes magazine’s list of annual business-friendly states). And yet, we at Mainebiz happen to think the state is loaded with creative thinkers and businesses that are taking the lead.

In these pages we present our Next List — 10 people shaping the future of Maine’s economy.

Some are relative newcomers, either to the state or to business, while others are seasoned but on the cusp of greater recognition. They include developers of both software and real estate, food producers, a builder and an architect, a researcher studying microbial dark matter and somebody who found an innovative way to deal with household garbage. We think you’ll agree that this group is going places.