Formula 1 Fuels Coffee Innovation

September 18, 2012 By IdeaConnection

The Irish Times has illustrated a recent piece on open innovation with a wonderful example of how a company went outside its usual channels to improve one of its products.

Kraft Foods, no stranger to engaging external expertise for its innovation needs used the modeling technologies expertise of Formula 1 engineers to improve the flow of water through its Tassimo coffee capsules.

This type of interdisciplinary collaboration is exactly what Kraft’s director of open innovation, Miles Eddowes is looking for as he discusses in the article.

His passionate belief in the power and potential of OI shine through:

“We employ very talented people, but we know that we cannot develop all of our product and technology goals alone,” Eddowes says. “We try not to differentiate between conventional RD and open collaboration. It’s all part of a process aimed at ensuring speed to market and maintaining our competitive edge.”

Fulfilling Kraft’s Innovation Needs

Eddowes describes himself as the company’s “global landing strip for bright ideas from the outside world” and his job is to act as a filter between what Kraft needs from others and what academics, partners, suppliers, innovation brokers and consumers can offer.

Among Kraft’s current innovation needs are:

  • Non-diary ingredients that taste diary
  • Environmentally friendly chewing gum formulations
  • Technologies or methods to improve the flavour of robusta coffee

One of the reasons why Kraft has reaped so many rewards from its willingness to collaborate with ‘outsiders’ is that it’s not caught up in the ‘not invented here’ syndrome that blights the innovation efforts of so many enterprises.


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