Nestlé partners with innovation platform Plug and Play in driving innovation efforts across SEA

Jakarta, Indonesia – Food and nutrition company Nestlé has teamed up with Plug and Play, a Silicon Valley-based innovation platform, in an effort to boost innovation opportunities and efforts in the Southeast Asia region.

The recent partnership entails Nestlé enabling the leverage of Plug and Play’s innovation expertise and ecosystem of startups, corporations, and investors, enabling the company to accelerate its innovation capabilities for future food technologies and solutions.

The Plug and Play Program was devised by the Indonesia president Jokowi Widodo in 2016 to drive the country’s innovation efforts within its startup ecosystem. Since then, they have created a thriving ecosystem of like-minded innovators where corporations, startups, investors, and government entities can collaborate to drive further innovation.

“I have witnessed the decline of many traditional and conservative companies because they failed to adapt to rapidly evolving industries. We are really proud that Nestlé Indonesia is partnering with us to embark on this pursuit of innovation and transformative excellence in the food industry,” said Halim Hartono, director of GK-Plug and Play.

Meanwhile, Guy Kellaway, communication director of Nestlé Indonesia commented, “For over 150 years, we have continuously focused on innovating our brands, products, systems, and technologies in order to remain relevant, and competitive. We look forward to this exciting partnership with GK Plug and Play which will drive our innovation efforts in the region.”

Nestlé is the sixth company to join the Plug and Play program, which has seen partnerships with automotive conglomerate Astra International, financial institutions Bank BNI, and Bank BCA, coal supplier ITM, pulp and paper company Sinar Mas Group, and the Global Innovation Alliance.