Our honorees in the new tech visionaries category are executives who applied new thinking to pressing problems. One is working to take cellular broadband places it’s never gone before. Another aims to make the tech industry less dependent on the risky business of mining rare earth materials. And the third is applying AI to the thorny challenge of defending against ever-smarter missiles and drones.

Abel Avellan, CEO, AST SpaceMobile
For sending cellular broadband to space
Founded in 2017 by chairman and CEO Abel Avellan, AST SpaceMobile has launched six of its BlueBird satellites into low Earth orbit, with plans to have 60 more in orbit by the end of 2026. The goal is to deliver the world’s first satellite-based cellular 4G/5G broadband to unmodified smartphones, soaring past the technological limitations that have kept reliable high-speed cellular delivered through other means from reaching nearly half the world’s population. Under Avellan’s leadership, the company has signed more than 50 wireless providers as strategic partners and raised $2 billion-plus from investors such as AT&T, Google, Rakuten, Verizon, and Vodafone.

Ahmad Ghahreman, Cyclic Materials
For giving rare earth materials a new lease on life
Rare earth materials such as neodymium and dysprosium are critical to everything from consumer electronics to data centers to energy production. But mining them is saddled with issues relating to geopolitics (China dominates the market), human rights, and climate change. Cyclic Materials CEO and cofounder Ahmad Ghahreman oversaw the invention of CC360, a process that recycles these materials—99% of which currently go to landfill—from disk drives. Among those working to help the company commercialize its technology are Amazon, BMW, Hitachi, and Microsoft, all of which participated in its $55 million Series B funding round. 

Amy Gilliland, General Dynamics Information Technology
For using AI to defend against missiles and drones
An $8.5 billion unit of defense giant General Dynamics, GDIT is led by president Amy Gilliland. The company worked with Amazon Web Services to develop an AI platform for the U.S. Department of Defense called Defense Operations Grid-Mesh Accelerator, or DOGMA. It helps protect against attacks by highly maneuverable missiles and drones by ingesting data from a network of sensors, analyzing it, and notifying the right operators on the ground—all swiftly enough to evade any attempts to jam communications systems. During tests at the DoD’s Technology Readiness Experimentation (T-REX) event in 2024, DOGMA reduced the time necessary to make decisions from 30 minutes to 30 seconds.

The companies and individuals behind these technologies are among the honorees in Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech awards for 2025. Read more about the winners across all categories and the methodology behind the selection process.