Accenture has entered into a collaboration with Unilever to leverage Unilever’s AI research and implementation of technologies that drive productivity, efficiencies and accelerate disruptive and AI-powered innovations at scale.
The work will commence at Unilever’s “Horizon3 Labs” which recently opened in Toronto, Canada.
Both companies will explore new applications to scale GenAI. Assets from Accenture’s AI Navigator or its “switchboard” will allow a user to select a combination of models to address the unique business context.
Accenture will connect Unilever with its data and AI experts and help capitalize on Accenture’s ecosystem of partnerships, ventures and strategic investments within its Center for Advanced AI. This includes more than 1,450 pending and issued patents in Accenture’s AI solutions and learnings from more than 300 GenAI projects.
Julie Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture, said: “This collaboration builds on our relationship of more than three decades with Unilever, which continues to raise the bar as a digital powerhouse and industry leader.
“The combination of Horizon3 Labs’ disruptive innovation with Accenture’s deep expertise and strong ecosystem partnerships will help Unilever scale AI and GenAI more rapidly and responsibly across its business and discover new pathways to value.”
Steve McCrystal, chief enterprise and technology officer at Unilever, said: “We are excited about building on our long-standing partnership with Accenture to step up our innovation agenda and drive value for our consumers, retailers and distributors. Horizon3 Labs is a unique platform for collaboration and co-creation and we look forward to working with Accenture and other partners to take our investment in AI to a new level.”
This initiative will leverage the industry solutions and accelerators within Accenture’s previously announced $3bn investment in data and AI. This investment aims to double the company’s AI talent to roughly 80,000 people in an effort to accelerate the adoption of AI and boost businesses.
