AAK Annual Report 2018

9 9 Delivering innovation through collaboration At AAK, innovation means sustainable growth for us and our customers. By constantly exploring new ideas, new raw materials and new technologies, we are able to co-develop unique solutions that open the door to a wealth of opportunities. It is what makes working with AAK different. Deep market insight Our solutions are never a success unless they add tangible, long-term value to our customers. Through our co-development approach, we start by gaining deep insights into the drivers behind market demand, as well as the challenges they present. This gives us a powerful framework to ensure each solution is exactly in line with the customer’s specific requirements. Value at every stage When it comes to creating a new solution, our global network of Customer Innovation Centers is home to many of the best engineering and technical minds in the business. We work in close collaboration with our customers’ own teams and experts to bring the best resources into play at every stage. This allows us to make sure that value is created throughout the process until the final solution is ready for launch. AAK’s approach to innovation offers significant advan- tages that help customers to be more competitive and build market share. This is not only through safer, more cost-efficient processing or a more sustainable supply, but also through superior products with a better sensory experience, better nutritional profile or that tap into the latest consumer trend. Breaking new ground Innovation at AAK has been strong over 2018 and thanks to the proximity of our Customer Innovation Centers to our customer base, we have seen positive results virtually every day. For example, our focus on heat stability in chocolate has added many benefits to our customers’ supply chains by optimizing both processes and ingredients. We have also created a range of flavored frying oils for snack production and more sustainable solutions for the plant-based food industry. Innovation for the future Looking forward, we will continue to use market insights and technical excellence to deliver outstanding solutions, which will enable even greater cooperation with customers. In addition, we are also exploring better ways to optimize our solutions for all plant-based segments. Our vision is to find new ways to combine these solutions with others in an open development process, allowing our joint knowledge and competencies to give birth to many new and exciting possibilities.