Innovative companies will tell you that the secret of their success isn't a big R&D budget. And the InformationWeek 500, now in its 14th year, ranks billion-dollar-size organizations on the basis of their innovative use of information technology--not who spends the most money on IT. This year's participants, as in previous years, completed a comprehensive qualifying questionnaire that examined core areas of operations, including technology deployment, IT budget, technology strategies, E-business and customer-knowledge initiatives, and staff management. Companies also were given the opportunity to submit essays highlighting significant achievements in the past 12 months.

The study, which was fielded by phone, fax, and the Web from April to June, identified 500 of the nation's largest and most innovative users of IT. Although InformationWeek 500 candidates reveal key elements of IT budgets and IT strategy, the data is aggregated by industry for benchmarking purposes. Individual responses are never disclosed.

We wish to thank our partners on this project, Harte-Hanks, a San Diego IT market research company, and CIC Research, also of San Diego. We also wish to congratulate and thank this year's InformationWeek 500 winners and all other companies that participated this year. It wouldn't be possible to supply such in-depth research on IT innovation without their cooperation.

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