Haraszti: ‘Innovation is the key to competitiveness and resilience’
At the BILLA Innovation Fair, start-up founders, product and innovation managers, REWE Group employees and numerous guests exchanged ideas on current trends, opportunities and challenges in retail and consumer goods. In a dynamic market environment in particular, it is crucial to identify new technologies, sustainable concepts and creative ideas at an early stage, test them in practice and implement them successfully. Innovation has an impact along the entire value chain – from product development to logistics and distribution to the customer shopping experience.
"The retail sector supplies millions of people in Austria every day. Our aim is not only to move with the times, but also to actively shape the retail sector. This includes a product range that meets the needs of consumers, packaging, logistics solutions and concepts that contribute to a sustainable society, and jobs that offer people prospects. Innovation is the key to competitiveness and resilience," says Marcel Haraszti, CEO of REWE International AG, explaining the REWE Group's commitment to a platform for innovation.
State Secretary Alexander Pröll: ‘The BILLA Innovation Fair shows how important innovation and cooperation between start-ups and established companies are. Entrepreneurs demonstrate here with a great deal of initiative and inventiveness what is possible with creative ideas – this was clearly visible and palpable at the fair. Here, innovation becomes tangible and shows the added value it can have for the economy and society.’
Experiencing innovation builds trust
‘At the BILLA Innovation Fair, start-up founders and partners bring their innovations to life and transform ideas into tangible reality. We thus offer a space for dialogue, inspiration and joint creation,’ says Erich Szuchy, CEO of BILLA AG. ‘The demands placed on us as food retailers are growing rapidly, and it is therefore our responsibility to actively promote innovation with initiatives such as this.’
With the BILLA Innovation Fair, BILLA and REWE Group have created a platform that makes innovation in retail and the consumer goods segment visible and tangible. From climate-friendly packaging solutions and digital services to new products in the food and non-food sectors, the event presented a variety of developments that will shape the retail sector of tomorrow. The fair is also a meeting place for start-ups, industry partners and employees who are shaping the future of retail together.
Markus Kuntke, REWE Trend and Innovation Manager: ‘REWE is always looking for innovation – we accompany it, we promote it and we live it. This is reflected in our shop concepts, such as BILLA Pflanzilla, as well as in the further development of our product range and our own brands. At the innovation fair, we bring this diversity of ideas to life: from start-ups to established partners and our own projects.’
