Insights

Open Innovation Forum: creating opportunities for collaboration and growth

The food, drink and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sectors are experiencing rapid transformation, driven by changing consumer expectations, advances in technology and the urgent need for more sustainable practices. To respond effectively, organisations are increasingly turning to collaboration to accelerate innovation and deliver solutions with impact.

The Open Innovation (OI) Forum provides a trusted environment where senior leaders from across the value chain can share insights, explore emerging opportunities and form partnerships. A key benefit is the Open Innovation Forum Pitching Event for Start-ups, which connects members directly with entrepreneurs, universities and innovation providers developing breakthrough solutions to the industry’s most pressing challenges.

About the OI Forum

The OI Forum, established in 2010, brings together senior leaders from across the food, drink and FMCG value chain to accelerate innovation through collaboration. As companies look to advance their technologies, the Forum helps members to combine their internal thinking with external insights, ideas and paths to market.

With members including multinational corporations such as Mars, Kerry, Diageo and Müller, the OI Forum represents organisations from across the core value chain as well as the wider innovation ecosystem. Membership spans brand owners and manufacturers through to raw materials and packaging producers, machinery and logistics suppliers, retailers, food tech and services organisations, and even waste management specialists.
Members meet three times a year, hosted at the site of one of the participating organisations. Each meeting is structured around a theme drawn from the Forum’s rolling landscape of future drivers, opportunities for innovation, technology and capability needs. This approach ensures that every gathering is closely aligned with industry priorities, while also providing a space for members to share experiences and strengthen their open innovation practice.

External Innovation Director for Mars Inc says, “The Forum offers 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.”

Spotlight on the annual pitching event

The annual Open Innovation Forum Pitching Event offers innovators the chance to present their solutions to an audience of senior decision-makers from some of the world’s leading companies. Taking place as part of the Forum’s autumn meeting, the event allows members to engage with start-ups, scale-ups, universities and innovation providers whose solutions align with the priorities set out in the Forum’s shared innovation landscape.
The event has two main parts. First, entrepreneurs deliver five-minute pitches to showcase their innovations, which are scored by Forum members, who also provide feedback. This is followed by a “speed-dating” session, where members hold short, face-to-face discussions with the pitchers that interest them, helping to spark connections and initiate follow-on activities.

Hugo Adams, CEO of 2023 winning company, Kelpi, explains how the event has supported their company, “The pitching process introduced us to a very impressive group of senior decisions makers from global food and FMCG companies. One of the companies present has become a long-term R&D partner and a number of others have developed into mutually beneficial relationships. The pitch process itself incorporated some useful feedback, as well as meeting other impressive start-ups and founders. The Forum is a great opportunity to engage directly with key leaders from some of the biggest companies in the world.”

For Forum members, the pitching event is a highly effective way to engage with early-stage innovation in a structured setting. The carefully selected start-ups present cutting-edge solutions to shared industry challenges, from food security and resilience, and waste stream valorisation, to developing sustainable packaging and healthy nutrition.

Members benefit by gaining early visibility of breakthrough ideas, the opportunity to shape new technologies through feedback, and the chance to initiate partnerships that can lead directly to pilots or commercial collaborations.

Brij Sahi, CEO and co-founder of SwissDeCode, 2018 winners of the pitching event, says, “The biggest impact was having access to key decision makers and enablers of your members. Invaluable. It was amazing to have so many in one room, and having the ability to get our message across. This led to many networking opportunities and potential business.”

2023 winners, Kelpi, collecting their award.

FEEDBACK FROM PAST WINNERS AND FORUM MEMBERS

“The pitching event gives a great visibility of businesses, technology and individuals in a curated and concentrated forum that is difficult to find elsewhere. We have engaged with the expertise of those who have previously pitched at the OI Forum sessions.”

Kerry Whiteside, Head of Science and Technology, Samworth Brothers

“We have found partners from the pitching competition. It’s also stimulating in extending our awareness of external activity areas.”

Lee Metters, Group Business Development Director, Domino Printing Sciences

Benefits of open innovation

Beyond the pitching event, Forum membership provides a comprehensive platform for accelerating open innovation. Members gain access to a diverse network of peers and partners, insights into future trends and sector-wide priorities, and exclusive research and tools from the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM). The annual OI Report and the OI Practice Self-Assessment model enable members to benchmark their practice and plan strategically.

The Forum offers unique opportunities for collaboration, not only between corporates and start-ups, but also across SMEs, intermediaries, and universities. Together, members share best practices, shape innovation agendas, and build connections that deliver both commercial and societal value.

Michèle Routley, Industrial Associate at IfM Engage and Lead for the OI Forum says, “Collaboration is the only way to achieve resilience and growth in today’s disruptive environment. The OI Forum provides a trusted and evolving network of diverse and open professionals to identify and address opportunities.”