R&D NEWS.....Unilever opens R&D centre in B’lore, bets on innovation

Unilever opens R&D centre in B’lore, bets on innovation

Bangalore: It’s an ordinary phone that costs less than Rs 3,000. It’s the kind Indians use for voice calls. While its specs pale in comparison to the smartphones, Unilever’s tech team in Bangalore has figured out that a 200MHz processor and 2 MB of RAM (memory) are more than enough to build smart applications on it which enable its rural saleswomen (Shakti Ammas) to function better and be more productive — not only for themselves but also for the Anglo-Dutch fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) giant.
    Shakti Ammas selling, billing and managing inventory on inexpensive phones, in deep rural pockets of India, is at once a testimonial to the company’s sustainability initiatives as well as being a smart business decision, as evidenced by the company’s sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth in the developing and emerging (D&E) markets.
    Innovations such as these are emerging out of Unilever’s ‘Enterprise Support and IT Innovation Centre’ in Bangalore, which was formally inaugurated on Thursday by the company’s CEO, Paul Polman. The centre, which is aglobal resource for the MNC, employs 1,400 people that include company employees and co-located IT vendor partners.
    The 46.5-billion-euro Unilever —the brand portfolio of which includes Knorr, Lipton, Dove, Vaseline and Lifebuoy — is streamlining its operational processes and leveraging technology to penetrate deeper into D&E markets. At present, 55% of Unilever’s total revenues and 85% of its growth come from there. By the end of the decade, the share of revenue from D&E markets is expected to touch 75%, with India emerging as a key market in the area of research and development and IT implementation.
    Speaking to the media after the centre’s inauguration, Polman said, “We have doubled our capital spending. Over the last four years alone, we have spent about 4-5 billion euro more in capital than the trajectory that we were on. We are building around 27 factories, bar one or two of them, in emerging markets.”
    He pointed out that population and economic growth has shifted very rapidly to the emerging markets. “What has surprised a lot of people is the speed at which it is happening. In fact 80% of the world population by the end of this decade will be living outside of Europe and US.”
    On India, Polman said, “We are increasingly seeing innovations come from this part of the world (India and Asia). We see a high quality of speed and agility, and cost competitiveness coming by way of this Bangalore centre, which makes our business model work.”

FOCUSING ON EMERGING MKTS

• On investment: Over 4 years, we have spent 4-5 billion euros more than the trajectory we’re on. We’re building 27 factories, bar one or two, in emerging mkts

• On India: We’re seeing innovations from this part. We see a high quality of speed and agility, and cost competitiveness coming by way of this Bangalore centre
Paul Polman | CEO, UNILEVER

TOIU121123