Unilever’s 100+ Accelerator partnership unlocks AI innovation across supply chain

A Unilever pilot programme is successfully using AI and the Internet of Things (IoT) to make the liquid technology systems that clean our nutrition and ice cream machines more efficient.

The solution developed by emerging start-up H20k Innovations has helped our nutrition factory in Poznan, Poland, cut utility use by 10%, reduce machine cleaning times by 20% and save €100,000m/year.

This is one of the most successful pilots to come out of 100+ Accelerator, a unique partnership created by Anheuser-Busch InBev and co-sponsored by Unilever, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive and Danone.

Connecting FMCGs and tech start-ups to accelerate supply chain solutions

Each year, 100+ Accelerator’s partners come together to set a series of challenges that look to solve global issues across supply chains and in R&D.

“Open innovation can be tricky when you’re sitting across the table from your competitors,” says Charlotte Ward, Global Head of Unilever’s Climate and Nature Fund. “We work to ensure the challenges set are in areas that are relevant to the entire consumer goods industry.

“To solve the world’s greatest challenges collaboration is essential,” she adds.

“100+ Accelerator provides a mechanism for like-minded businesses to learn from one another and to scale solutions quickly, which benefits their respective businesses and generates transformative impact.”

A low-risk opportunity to test, learn and scale innovation

100+ Accelerator works to matchmake emerging tech start-ups with the challenges set. So far, there have been over 2,500 applications for the 2025 cohort.

Those shortlisted receive up to $100,000 (€88,000) of funding to run a pilot with one of the partner organisations. As well as mentoring and training, they’re given access to the FMCG’s supply chain, teams and purchasing power.

The process is fast and always on. “We recruit, determine the scope of work and implement the pilots, all within the space of 9–12 months,” Charlotte says.

For each party, it’s a win–win: FMCG partners can test and learn new technologies at low risk. And start-ups can leverage an FMCG’s size and insights to scale their solution and bring it to market faster.

Using AI to revolutionise factory cleaning systems

Of the pilots Unilever has undertaken, its most successful has been with H2Ok Innovations, a start-up specialising in AI and the Internet of Things to understand industrial liquid systems.

The challenge set to H2Ok was to make cleaning times in our ice cream and nutrition factories more efficient, to save resources and get the production lines back producing.

Quality and product safety is a top priority with food, and at Unilever, our clean-in-place systems for process lines have always been rigorous. We wanted to understand how to wash correctly as opposed to washing too much.

In the past, this meant taking manual samples. H2Ok’s solution uses an IoT-enabled sensor system and process optimisation software to understand what was happening instead.

AI insights from sensor data showed multiple examples of over-washing. It also identified when protocol said cleaning was complete and the data said it wasn’t. This ensured we carried on cleaning and didn’t produce a spoilt batch.

Now H2Ok’s technology, like the AI function on a smart dishwasher, ensures our machines use the right amount of detergent, at the right temperature for the right duration, based on what it sees as opposed to manually choosing a cleaning mode.

As a result of its success, the system was deployed across two nutrition process lines in Poznan, Poland, saving 10% on utilities such as water and energy and 20% on cleaning times to help recoup lost production time and save €100,000/year /year. Since its implementation, changeover time has been reduced by 16.7% over the previous year. Roll-out to another 35 sites by 2026 is planned.

Partnering to deliver sustainable impact at scale

In the six years that 100+ Accelerator has been running, it has partnered with 190 start-ups across 40 countries.

This year we’re aiming to deepen the impact of the programme by connecting with Supply Chain, Procurement and R&D teams to run pilots across the business which will help solve our biggest operational and innovation challenges. We also aim to work more closely with the Horizon3 Labs, a programme that looks to accelerate AI solutions such as H2Ok, in Unilever’s operations.