Though mega-company Microsoft makes many technological contributions year after year, this year it has been identified as one of the world's most innovative companies specifically because of its development of Minecraft: Education Edition; Microsoft has been ranked 31st out of the top 50 most innovative companies in 2017 by Fast Company.

According to Fast Company, Microsoft is being recognized "for building new worlds in the classroom."

Microsoft's purchase of Minecraft and its attempt to develop its own educational version of the product to further the game's potential in classrooms is "helping kids develop in-demand computational skills alongside subject-matter knowledge," Fast Company says.

Microsoft began testing a beta version of the now-available-for-purchase Minecraft: Education Edition in May of 2016. Fast Company says over 10,000 educators and school administrators tested the product, relaying suggestions to Microsoft developers who made the tweaks that were represented when the polished version of the product was released in November.

Microsoft continues to update Minecraft: Education Edition to fit the modern classroom's ever-changing needs; just last month it announced new features designed to help teachers best inspire learning with the game.

The updates include new teacher features made in response to suggestions, including a "Global Pause" for better activity transition and a series of new items. Another update includes the expansion of the Minecraft community by "expanding the Minecraft Mentor program to include 60 Global Minecraft Mentors representing 18 countries around the world."

Microsoft has not been included on Fast Company's list of the most innovative companies since 2013, where it ranked as 48th.

Other companies included on Fast Company's list include Amazon, Slack, Uber, BuzzFeed and Adobe.

Are you using Minecraft: Education Edition in your classroom? Take our poll below.

Nicole Gorman, Senior Education World Contributor

2/13/2017