Approach

PepsiCo’s External Innovation (XI) team, part of the company’s Research and Development (R&D) organization, actively scouts, identifies and develops strategic partnerships with external collaborators. Our aim is to locate key external insights, business models, technical unlocks and new capabilities that, when partnered with our robust R&D expertise, will yield innovation in our foods and drinks, operations and value chain.

We are interested in improving all facets of our value chain — from raw material inputs all the way to the consumer experience — and identifying global efficiencies in areas including crop science, protein and functional ingredients, processing, packaging, sustainability, agriculture, digitization, equipment, distribution, retail and e-commerce. Some examples of partnerships forged from XI include:

• Our partnership with Aquacycl, a technology startup, is supporting our efforts to reduce and better manage wastewater emissions at our beverage plants. Together with Aquacycl, we are using natural bacteria to treat wastewater. Aquacycl’s microbial fuel cell technology uses natural bacteria to mitigate undesirable compounds in wastewater and naturally clean it.
• The External Innovation team in partnership with Plug and Play co-hosted “Tackling Scope 3 Emissions - Sustainability Innovation Forum” in August 2023. This was a first-of-its kind PepsiCo event bringing together key PepsiCo leaders working on Scope 3 emissions with counterparts from peer companies and other industries. The purpose was learning best practices from each other and kick-starting conversations and collaborations with potential partners who share similar visions. The immediate outcome was five new or renewed peer engagements around Scope 3 collaboration and several more since. Additionally, a pilot project with Carbon Reform tests new carbon capture technology and explores possible applications. Going forward, XI and Partnerships team aims to drive industry-wide data standardization, expand technology pilots and continue hosting collaborative sessions to scale impactful solution.
• PepsiCo along with other peers partnered with the U.S. National Science Foundation to support their SPEED program (Sustainable Polymers Enabled by Emerging Data Analytics) in 2024. The purpose of this program is to enable synergies between fundamentals of polymer science and data analytics that will accelerate the development of sustainable polymers and further progress a circular economy for packaging. This aligns with our aim to build a world where packaging never becomes waste.

PepsiCo’s Open Innovation portal allows potential partners, from small-scale to large, to submit proposals for novel technology solutions against current needs presented by our R&D teams. To view PepsiCo's current needs, please click here.