Dive Summary:
- On Wednesday, Hershey hosted its first Global Partner Summit, an open innovation forum in which over 70 of its suppliers assembled to help improve and accelerate innovation.
- The event, held in Baltimore, tasked the suppliers with developing new product ideas, improvements to formulations and recipes, innovative packaging, and improvements to processing and technology.
- Most CPG firms' R&D departments are now utilizing open innovation strategies in collaboration with third parties, as well as "matchmaking" firms like NineSigma that help R&D teams find partners and collaborators.
From the article:
... The Global Partner Summit, which will be an annual event, was designed to "create new ideas, new capabilities, more sustainable practices and consumer-focused innovations that will drive industry-leading growth," said CEO John P. Bilbrey, who has set an ambitious target of reaching $10bn in net sales by 2017. ...
