Within the quest for faster and faster innovation, DSM has been a pioneer of so-called ‘Open Innovation’ methodologies: creative partnerships at every phase of the way from invention to market. For many years a collaboration with the Dutch Olympic Team had been one of the publicly visible projets within this realm.
With the strong internationalization of the company – both regarding its own locations as well as its primary markets – a need across to find a more globally fitting alternative.
For this we designed a new approach, selecting a single more globally popular sports and leisure activity: cycling. The charming advantage of cycling is that it not only encompassed high performance athletic activities, yet at the same time represents a low threshold leisure activity for people throughout the world. In addition, bicycles for personal and even low volume goods form the most sustainable transportation alternative, fitting excellently with the strong sustainability image of the company.
In 2015 the innovation partnership between DSM and ‘World Tour Team’ Giant-Alpecin was launched, where DSM provided new products both in the field of nutritional ingredients as well as high performance materials to the team in return for promotional exposure for these innovations.