We knew we needed to broaden the net to deliver disruptive innovation... an R&D company is not going to be able to find a company in stealth mode, or an academic researcher that dabbles in a space but hasn’t published yet.

Casting a wide net without sacrificing efficiency

As a leader in the global food industry, Kraft Heinz embraces both tradition and innovation. The company has stayed ahead of the competition by swiftly adapting to changing consumer preferences and environmental considerations with innovations in plant-based products, eco-friendly packaging, and more. To maintain its competitive edge, Kraft Heinz knows it must continuously augment and optimize its external innovation capabilities to tap into groundbreaking technologies and talent from outside its walls. 

“We knew we needed to broaden the net to deliver disruptive innovation,” said Maxine Roman, Kraft Heinz’s R&D Innovation Collaboration & Partnerships Lead. 

 Kraft Heinz’s objective was to scale external innovation efforts without spending more time on process management. The company had found partners in the past using consultants, but their traditional approach to scouting often yielded limited new insights and could take several months to complete.  

Partnerships are a key part of Kraft Heinz’s innovation strategy, augmenting what the company can do and moving the entire industry forward. As part of this strategy, Kraft Heinz wanted to source emerging experts and innovators, but finding potential partners can be incredibly challenging: “An R&D company is not going to be able to find a company in stealth mode, or an academic researcher that dabbles in a space but hasn’t published yet,” said Roman. 

Most importantly, Kraft Heinz was looking to reduce the administrative burden on employees involved in the partner identification process.  “Anything that saves mental space for our teams is super helpful,” explained Roman. 

Using Halo we've been able to find new research and experts that none of our other tools could find. That has been a major benefit, unearthing what is up and coming and beneath the surface. The other big value-driver has been efficiency and how streamlined the process is through Halo. 

The number one impact was finding innovators that none of our other tools could find. There are companies that we don't know, that our network doesn't know, and labs that we've never heard of before, that Halo helps unlock for us.

Partnering with Halo to augment reach  

After evaluating multiple platforms, Kraft Heinz chose Halo for its global reach, easy implementation, and the ability to rate and review proposals within a single platform.  

“It was very easy to set up a landing page,” said Roman, and Kraft Heinz was operational and running its first request on Halo in under 30 days.  

High-quality solutions in half the time

With Halo’s Partnering Platform, Kraft Heinz’s external partner identification process took a significant leap forward. 

Further, Kraft Heinz reduced the average time to scout new technologies and innovators by half.

Kraft Heinz has received over 300 unique proposals across seven targeted RFPs — an average of nearly 50 proposals per request — expanding its personal network to include over 440 researchers and startups. But the biggest breakthrough has been Halo’s ability to unearth up-and-coming technologies. 

“The number one impact was finding innovators that none of our other tools could find,” said John Topinka Kraft Heinz R&D Technology Scouting Lead. “There are companies that we don't know, that our network doesn't know, and labs that we've never heard of before, that Halo helps unlock for us.”

Kraft Heinz is continuing to expand its network with Halo knowing that the team has a scalable approach to posing research questions and reliability finding quality. With Halo, the company can spend less time on process and more time capitalizing on driving its innovation strategy.