Reebok 2015 Annual Report Download - page 84

GROUP MANAGEMENT REPORT – OUR GROUP
Research and Development
80
2
RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT
Creating innovative products to meet the needs of professional and everyday athletes and consumers
is a prerequisite to strengthening our market position in the sporting goods industry and a premise
to being the best sporting goods company in the world. In a rapidly changing world, our culture and
passion for innovation and consistent investment in research and development (R&D) is essential to
the development of new product concepts, processes, production methods and digital applications
that are beneficial to our business objectives and our long-term sustainability ambitions. True to
the vision of creative collaboration, our R&D approach is also based on an Open Source perspective,
clearly visible in our numerous collaborations with athletes and consumers, universities, industry-
leading companies as well as national and international governments.
R&DAN INTEGRAL PARTOF THE PRODUCTAND USER
EXPERIENCE CREATION PROCESS
R&D within the adidas Group follows a decentralised approach. In line with their strategic and long-term
visions and distinctive positioning, each brand runs its own R&D activities. However, fundamental research
as well as expertise and competencies in sustainable product creation are shared across the Group.
For the adidas brand, R&D is closely integrated with the sourcing, design and product marketing functions.
At the beginning of the product creation process, marketing defines a development priority, which, in
recent years, has increasingly included sustainability targets. This is derived on a case-by-case basis
from a combination of consumer research and feedback, competition analysis and own product testing.
Based on this, employees in our so-called FUTURE teams analyse new materials, production processes and
scientific research to increase the exchange and scope of idea generation. Their scope also extends to areas
such as consumer insights and social media. This helps promote a holistic and innovation-focused culture
which gives deeper consumer insights, while also fuelling creativity and synergies across the organisation.
To identify innovative materials as well as integrate sustainability, cost and production process aspects
into the development phase, the FUTURE teams are in close contact with our sourcing and material teams
within product development who, in turn, work closely with our suppliers.
In addition to its internal R&D efforts, the adidas Group engages in long-term and exclusive partnerships
with well-established third parties. True to the vision of creative collaboration, our R&D activities are based
on an Open Source approach, unveiled in our numerous collaborations with athletes, universities, industry-
leading companies and national and international governments. We are the first sports brand that invites
athletes, consumers, partners and customers to be part of our brands and we are already working with
some of the world’s most creative and innovative people and organisations.
Once conceptualised, new product technologies are engineered using state-of-the-art systems. Extensive
virtual prototype testing and engineering loops are carried out on every technology. Once a new product
technology is deemed viable, it is produced as a physical sample. These samples are then comprehensively
tested by a broad range of users, including top athletes. Only when these comprehensive tests have been
successful are the technologies handed over to product marketing, which commercialises the technology
to a final product.
To capitalise on our R&D achievements, we enforce the Group’s trademarks and patents by monitoring
the marketplace for infringements and taking action to prevent them. Likewise, we have comprehensive
processes, and undertake significant research, to avoid infringement of third-party intellectual property
rights. As we use a wide range of different technologies in our products, we are not dependent upon any
single technology, or any patent rights related to any single technology.
see Group Strategy, p. 54
see Risk and Opportunity
Report, p. 156