Open Innovation Forum

Join the Open Innovation Forum to share best practice and explore hot topics and opportunities along the Food, Drink and FMCG value streams.

The Open Innovation (OI) Forum offers a programme of expert support and opportunities for companies from all stages of the Food, Drink and FMCG value chain. As companies look to advance their technologies, the Forum helps members to combine their internal thinking with external insights, ideas and paths to market.

Make an enquiry

To get an idea of how the OI Forum operates, take a look at this video on sustainable packaging from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Disruptive Innovation Forum.

During a two-day workshop, the group deployed the collaborative power of Open Innovation and harnessed a design thinking approach to prototype potential solution pathways.

MEMBER BENEFITS

Learn from experienced practitioners whilst networking with other members of the Food, Drink & FMCG business community.

Share insights of priorities and opportunities across the value chain with the OI Forum Roadmap, built on perspectives from ingredients and packaging, through to brand owners, manufacturing and retail.

Take the Open Innovation Practice Self-Assessment model to assess the maturity of your current OI practice.

Identify real collaboration opportunities with fellow Forum members, and with innovation providers, start-ups and universities through regular pitching events.

Gain links with past and ongoing IfM research with the opportunity for optional, accelerated Open Innovation collaborations.

Receive exclusive access to the OI annual report.

Annual membership entitles two practitioners from each company to participate. The Forum is limited to an exclusive maximum of 20 non–competing organisations covering all stages of the Food, Drink & FMCG value stream.

MEMBER BENEFITS

Learn from experienced practitioners whilst networking with other members of the Food, Drink & FMCG business community.

Share insights of priorities and opportunities across the value chain with the OI Forum Roadmap, built on perspectives from ingredients and packaging, through to brand owners, manufacturing and retail.

Take the Open Innovation Practice Self-Assessment model to assess the maturity of your current OI practice.

Identify real collaboration opportunities with fellow Forum members, and with innovation providers, start-ups and universities through regular pitching events.

Gain links with past and ongoing IfM research with the opportunity for optional, accelerated Open Innovation collaborations.

Receive exclusive access to the OI annual report.

Annual membership entitles two practitioners from each company to participate. The Forum is limited to an exclusive maximum of 20 non–competing organisations covering all stages of the Food, Drink & FMCG value stream.

“Here is a real opportunity to create a breakthrough in consumer and community value as we further collaborate with our peers in the industry. We at Mars want to create a mutuality of benefits by doing business in ways that are good for our company, good for people and good for the planet. The unique feature of this forum is the focus on our industry value streams, and membership from companies representing every stage. This enables discussions on best practice to be more productive, as they are in a shared context. It also means we can explore real innovation needs and opportunities such as sustainability, traceability, health and wellbeing. These kind of networks and collaborations enable opportunities that can impact our strategy and innovation efficiency.”

External Innovation Director, Mars Inc

“Here is a real opportunity to create a breakthrough in consumer and community value as we further collaborate with our peers in the industry. We at Mars want to create a mutuality of benefits by doing business in ways that are good for our company, good for people and good for the planet. The unique feature of this forum is the focus on our industry value streams, and membership from companies representing every stage. This enables discussions on best practice to be more productive, as they are in a shared context. It also means we can explore real innovation needs and opportunities such as sustainability, traceability, health and wellbeing. These kind of networks and collaborations enable opportunities that can impact our strategy and innovation efficiency.”

External Innovation Director, Mars Inc

LATEST NEWS FROM THE OI FORUM

Winners of the OI Forum pitching competition announced

The OI Forum met in Munich recently and heard pitches from start-ups seeking to change the food, drink and FMCG sectors for the better.

Open Innovation Forum food sector competition held in the Netherlands

The Open Innovation Forum met in the Netherlands and offered innovators from business and academia a platform to pitch their ideas. Pitchers sought to impress with novel solutions to the sectors’ sustainability challenges.

MEMBER EVENTS

The Forum meets three times a year to engage and share experiences with other organisations along the Food, Drink & FMCG supply chain in a workshop setting. These workshops are hosted by members and typically include an organised plant tour, time to discuss self-evaluation of current open innovation practice and exploration into Food, Drink & FMCG hot topics. Further networking takes place between workshops and members have the option to get involved in collaborative spin-off projects.

PITCHING EVENTS FOR START-UPS

A central focus of the Forum is to support members in harnessing external innovations from outside their organisations. As part of this, we run events for start-ups and innovators to pitch their exciting new ventures, ideas and emerging technologies to build relationships with larger companies.

Find out more about pitching events

“We find the opportunity to network with our customers and other businesses in the food and drink field extremely useful, both in the areas of generating and developing new ideas, but also in the area of OI best practice”.

Director of External Affairs, CROWN Technology

“We find the opportunity to network with our customers and other businesses in the food and drink field, extremely useful. Both in the areas of generating and developing new ideas, but also in the area of OI best practice”.

Director of External Affairs, CROWN Technology