The latest news, trends, analysis, interviews and podcasts from the global food and beverage industry

Nestlé has announced a new partnership with Plug and Play, a global innovation platform for industry accelerators, as it looks to drive its innovation efforts in Indonesia.

Through the partnership, Nestlé will leverage Plug and Play’s innovation expertise and ecosystem of start-ups, corporations and investors. As a result, the owner of KitKat hopes to accelerate its innovation capabilities for future food technologies and solutions.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Plug and Play is a global innovation platform that looks to bring together the most promising start-ups with the world’s leading corporations, in order to drive investment, foster innovation and secure collaborative partnerships.

Since its inception in 2006, Plug and Play's accelerator programmes have expanded worldwide to over 30 locations, with over 30,000 start-ups and 400 official corporate partners.

"I have witnessed the decline of many traditional and conservative companies because they failed to adapt to rapidly evolving industries. We are really proud that Nestlé Indonesia is partnering with us to embark on this pursuit of innovation and transformative excellence in the food industry,” said Halim Hartono, director of GK-Plug and Play.

Plug and Play was invited by Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) back in 2016, in order to accelerate the country’s innovation efforts within its start-up ecosystem.

Guy Kellaway, communication director of Nestlé Indonesia, added: "For over 150 years, we have continuously focused on innovating our brands, products, systems and technologies in order to remain relevant, and competitive. We look forward to this exciting partnership with GK Plug and Play which will drive our innovation efforts in the region."

Nestlé Indonesia currently employs about 3,600 employees and operates three factories that produce milk, food and beverages under brands such as Dancow, Milow, Nescafé and KitKat.