Henkel Partners With CognitionX to Progress in Artificial Intelligence

LONDON, November 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Industrial and consumer goods giant partners with AI Advice Platform to make AI adoption more efficient and drive transformation 

Henkel has entered into a landmark partnership with CognitionX, a rich, comprehensive library of curated AI news and network of experts.

Digital innovation platform Henkel X, part of German multinational Henkel, which owns brands including Persil, Loctite, and Schwarzkopf, is partnering with AI News and Advice Platform CognitionX to engage the Henkel X community with information, a network of expertise and knowledge around the deployment of artificial intelligence.

As of 2019, Henkel X will syndicate curated AI news from CognitionX, which publishes handpicked updates across a range of industry sectors, to encourage its community and provide access to new solutions, opportunities for collaboration and the knowledge to embrace innovation. Henkel will also start to roll out the Enterprise Edition of CognitionX's AI Advice Platform, to access a Wiki of AI products, capitalise on the company's existing internal AI knowledge, and leverage a network of external AI experts through a single platform.

Henkel X engaged with CognitionX as part of its mission to unite and accelerate Henkel's entrepreneurial transformation, inspired by the "Lean Startup" methodology of "build, measure, learn".

The news comes at the same time as Founders Forum meets in Dusseldorf, Henkel's headquarter city. The premier community for global entrepreneurs, CEOs, and investors in the digital, media and technology sectors is being hosted in association with Henkel on November 7th and 8th.

Dr. Rahmyn Kress, Chief Digital Officer at Henkel, said: "Henkel is proud to have been a family business for 140 years. Our challenge, like many major enterprises, is to embrace change. We are focused on solutions to grow internal collaboration and make more use of own enterprise knowledge. These latest investments will help Henkel drive a new, entrepreneurial digital culture and ensure we are able to respond to accelerating technological change."

Charlie Muirhead, Founder and CEO of CognitionX, said: "It's now mission critical for organisations to have an AI strategy and start transformation. Getting that right means leveraging and developing internal knowledge, as well as accessing external expertise where needed."

But many companies are stuck with the same age-old challenge: 'if we only knew what we knew, we would be three times more productive'. We're thrilled to be working with Rahmyn and the Henkel X team, who see the opportunity to catapult the company forward, by growing and capitalising on their internal AI expertise, as well as of those in our network."

CognitionX's AI News and Advice Platform helps large organisations share knowledge by matching questions to both internal and external experts in a simple, fast and cost-effective way. Its initial focus is on AI, but there is potential to apply this model to advice on a whole range of other topics and domains.

CognitionX recently announced a $4.1M funding round led by Unilever Ventures, Gary Gauba, Founder of Cognilytics and Founder of The CXO Fund, and Manoj Saxena, Chairman of CognitiveScale and former IBM Watson General Manager. Gauba and Saxena joined a list of existing tech angels including Brent Hoberman CBE, Executive Chairman at Founders Factory and Co-founder of lastminute.com, renowned start-up investor Esther Dyson, Joanna Shields, Group CEO of BenevolentAI, Lord Young, former UK Trade Secretary and entrepreneur along with William Tunstall-Pedoe, whose business, Evi, was acquired by Amazon and used to create Alexa.

About Henkel 
Henkel holds leading positions with three business units in both industrial and consumer businesses thanks to strong brands, innovations and technologies. Henkel Adhesive Technologies is the global leader in the adhesives market - across all industry segments worldwide. In its Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care businesses, Henkel holds leading positions in many markets and categories around the world. Founded in 1876, Henkel looks back on more than 140 years of success. In 2017, Henkel reported sales of 20 billion euros and adjusted operating profit of around 3.5 billion euros. Henkel employs more than 53,000 people globally. Its preferred shares are listed in the German stock index DAX.

In 2018, the company has launched Henkel X, an agile, hyper-connected and entrepreneurial platform for collaboration and innovation, bringing together the smartest network and industry partners through open collaboration. Ambition is to unite and accelerate Henkel's entrepreneurial transformation across three pillars: Ecosystem, Experience and Experimentation (build, measure and learn).

About CognitionX 

Founded in 2015 CognitionX's mission is to bring clarity to, and accelerate adoption of, AI across all organisations from global enterprises to startups, and help ensure a safe and responsible transition to an AI-driven society. In addition to running CogX (http://www.CogX.co), the world's leading Festival of AI and emerging technology, CognitionX's groundbreaking AI Advice Platform connects users and organisations in real-time with news, products and a global network of technology experts. CognitionX also delivers Custom Research for clients including the Mayor of London, Swedbank and Accenture.