Sustainability report 2019

23 Welcome to AAK ACADEMY ™ One particularly important aspect of our co-development approach is to run courses at our Customer Innovation Centers through AAK ACADEMY ™ . Not only does this enable us to deliver a more complete service to customers, but it also provides the perfect platform to share knowledge on the importance and value of sustainable solutions. Martin Persson, Commercial Product Manager, Dairy, gives us some insights into what AAK ACADEMY ™ is, and the value it provides: What is AAK ACADEMY ™ ? AAK ACADEMY ™ organizes application-focused courses based on customer needs and challenges. Usually held at our premises, but sometimes at a customer’s own facility, these courses take a holistic approach that cover many different areas, such as consumer trends, concept ideation, and product development. How does it work? :H NHHS WKH FRXUVHV ÀH[LEOH WR VXLW FXVWRPHUV segments or markets, but typically they have a formal set-up with a mixture of attendees from different companies. We focus on helping people to understand market trends and improve their product development in key areas, including healthiness, sustainability, function- DOLW\ FRVW HI¿FLHQF\ DQG QHZ FRQFHSW FUHDWLRQ :H DOVR RUJDQL]H FXVWRPHU VSHFL¿F DFDGHPLHV WR HQJDJH NH\ personnel from different functions, such as Research & Development, Quality Assurance, production, and marketing. What do customers get out of it? Each AAK ACADEMY ™ course are an excellent oppor- tunity for people to get a deeper understanding of how AAK oils and fats can support our customers’ current and future business plans and product roadmaps. Through our AAK Co-Development Innovation days, we also facilitate the ideation of possible sweet spots and solutions by presenting new concepts and market trends as inspiration. We evaluate customers’ products and their value chain for improvements, which helps them prioritize the development of new ideas. How does this support our ambition to be a “strong and knowledgeable sustainability partner”? Within AAK ACADEMY ™ , sustainability has gone from being a single agenda point to something that is incor- porated into other topics. Sustainability is a complement as well as a strong factor for making business decisions and developing new product concepts and we contin- uously develop knowledge and expertise by working closely with leading businesses worldwide. We strive to use and share knowledge around sustainable raw materials, operations and practices. Sustainability is at our core and that is being recognized by our customers. What did you achieve over 2019, and what’s next? In our latest AAK Ice Cream ACADEMY ™ , we introduced new ways to explore the connection between product development and consumer demand for sustainable alternatives. With the current speed of change in the market, we believe this strong link is critical to help our customers be even more successful in their upcoming product launches. )RU WKHUH DUH PRUH DFDGHPLHV FRPLQJ QRZ in the planning phase, which will continue to highlight the importance of sustainability and how we are the right partner to help customers integrate this into their development processes.