Adidas to open start-up accelerator within Paris incubator hub Station F

Another major international corporation is joining Parisian start-up incubator Station F, following in the footsteps of L'Oréal, LVMH, Vente-Privée and Facebook. Adidas will inaugurate its own space within the hub on January 18. The German sports giant, keen on making innovation one of its main assets, like its chief global competitor Nike, will place 10 innovative start-ups under its wing within Station F.

Proof of Adidas’s interest is the fact that Kasper Rorsted, the CEO of the group worth over €21 billion in revenue in 2017, will attend the new facility’s inauguration. Adidas picked the 10 start-ups last December at its Herzogenaurach headquarters in Germany, after a selection process lasting several months. The chosen companies specialise in three areas: retail solutions, digital tools and environmental responsibility.

The choice of Station F, besides its reputation for stimulating creativity, was not random, Paris being one of Adidas’s 10 key cities worldwide. This translates into strong event and marketing activity by Adidas in the French capital, which is also a major hub for expertise and know-how. The ten start-ups chosen by Adidas come from all over the world, as part of the group's open-source approach.

Adidas’s open-source strategy initially focused on partnerships with industrial groups like BASF, Parley and materials producer Carbon, then featured the opening of a design studio in New York and collaborations with several partners for marketing and digital communication initiatives. Adidas’s goal is to create a global network of partners and resources in various sectors. This open-source approach is also one of the three mainstays of the group's corporate vision, alongside execution speed and a focus on key global cities.

Adidas to open start-up accelerator within Paris incubator hub Station F

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