AAK sustainability report 2018

21 AAK ACADEMY ™ – the knowledge center for lipid technology What is the AAK ACADEMY™? The AAK ACADEMY™ is an important part of AAK that organizes application-focused courses specific to customer needs. Usually held at our premises, but sometimes at a customer’s own facility or on neutral ground, these courses take a holistic approach towards ideation, development, and production success. How does it work? We keep the courses flexible to suit customers, segments or markets, but typically they have a formal set-up with a mixture of attendees from different compa- nies. We focus on helping people to understand market trends and improve their product development in key areas, for example healthiness, sustainability, cost- efficiency, and new concept creation. We also organize customer-specific academies to engage key personnel from different divisions, such as R&D, QA, production and marketing. What do customers get out of it? Each AAK ACADEMY™ course leaves attendees with a far greater understanding of the application of value- adding vegetable oil solutions and how to realize their impact across the value chain to give a better consumer experience. Through our AAK Co-Development days, we also faciliate the ideation of possible sweet spots and solutions by presenting new concepts and market trends as inspiration. What did you achieve during 2018? We held several courses in Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, focused on Chocolate & Confectionery and Bakery. These were a great success, largely because few suppliers in these regions are as willing to share their knowledge and expertise. Li Na Wong, Marketing Manager AAK Southeast Asia, on AAK ACADEMY ™ : 21