Brewing up Success : AB InBev GCC Wins ‘Great Place to Innovate’ in Zinnov Awards 2021

Beer Garage, a global innovation hub based out of AB InBev’s GCC, has won the award for ‘Great Place to Innovate’ by Zinnov Awards 2021 for shaping the culture of innovation, launching disruptive ideas and delivering impactful business value for the company.

An integral part of AB InBev’s global innovation hubs’ network, Beer Garage leverages the emerging startup ecosystem and funnels novel ideas into the organisation. This framework connects the organisation with the external ecosystem (accelerators, startups, investors, academia, corporates and other innovation ecosystem enablers) and creates a culture of innovation within the firm.

The key rationale for accelerating innovation at Beer Garage is to solve pressing business problems using emerging innovative technologies. Their way of working involves partnering with best-in-class startups across the globe through a plug & play implementation model. To date, Beer Garage has launched 25+ innovation projects and grown its network to 1,000+ ecosystem connects.

The Zinnov Awards is an annual celebration of organisations and leaders who have made a positive impact on the Indian technology ecosystem.

The ‘Great Place to Innovate’ award recognises companies that focus on value creation, foster an innovative mindset and culture, and make concerted efforts across the five key areas of organisation charter, culture, internal programs and processes, external linkages, and innovation metrics.

"We found an opportunity to leverage the emerging startup ecosystem across the globe and funnel novel ideas into the company. We set out to build a framework to connect with the external ecosystem and create this culture of innovation within the company,” says Pritam Dutta, Global Director, Z-Tech and Innovation, AB InBev.

A titan in the tech startup ecosystem, Beer Garage is now fast-tracking its efforts in the innovation space, leveraging disruptive digital and tech solutions, to build sustainable business improving the lives of its consumers and customers.

Beer Garage is accelerating its ambition to support its SME customers with novel fintech solutions. The flagship Beer Garage Accelerator Program 2021 has witnessed tremendous response with 1,500+ applications from 60+ participating countries across 26 key focus areas ranging from marketing, supply chain, logistics , fintech and others.

"Our focus for this year will be to drive the fintech innovations centre of excellence, scale our successful Beer Garage Accelerator programme, and drive transformation within emerging markets like China, Africa, and SEA. We are looking out for startups, entrepreneurs and people with innovative solutions who can drive exponential value to our customers," says Luiz Gondim, CTO, Z-Tech.

AB InBev in its endeavour to accelerate the open innovation agenda globally as well as across industry, recently also launched a platform called Innovation Garage with key players across technology, CPG, telecom (Microsoft for Startups, Orange Business Services, Kimberly Clark) to foster a strong ecosystem connect and drive innovation with high business impact. Participants will gain exclusive access to the platforms’ knowledge sharing sessions, innovation demo days, industry nights, global innovation tours and much more.

For more details and latest updates, follow Beer Garage on Instagram and LinkedIn