Dutch brewer Heineken has opened a global gen AI laboratory in Singapore in collaboration with research institute AI Singapore.

The lab will develop scalable gen AI to drive business value and accelerate Heineken’s digital transformation journey.

This initiative aims to transform how gen AI enhances growth, productivity and customer engagement across the company’s global operations.

“Heineken aims to be the world’s best-connected brewer,” said Ronald den Elzen, chief technology officer at Heineken. “Gen AI will play an increasingly important role in understanding consumer needs, enhancing customer engagement, and improving productivity throughout the company. The establishment of the global gen AI lab marks a significant milestone in Heineken ’s digital transformation journey, highlighting our strategic focus on advanced gen AI technologies as essential drivers for growth, efficiency and innovation.”

Kenneth Choo, managing director for Heineken in Apac, added: “We are pleased to announce our global gen AI lab in partnership with AI Singapore. This lab will serve as a global centre of expertise, driving AI innovation at a local level while enhancing our operations on a global scale. By taking this significant step, Heineken is strategically positioning ourselves for a resilient and thriving future, reaffirming our commitment to Singapore and the Asia Pacific region. By harnessing Singapore’s exceptional AI ecosystem, skilled talent and supportive government policies, we are excited to drive the development of innovations that will transform the beverage industry for years to come.”

The lab will lead the development of scalable gen AI across critical business areas, including agentic systems that can autonomously solve complex problems from automated marketing content creation to intelligent financial reporting and customer support and knowledge management systems. Heineken’s approach combines human expertise with AI capabilities to ensure practices are responsible while creating standardised options for global implementation.

The lab has been established as an ongoing collaboration between Heineken and AI Singapore, fostering continuous knowledge transfer and talent sharing. By the end of 2025, the lab aims to have assembled a full-time team of experts. This team will combine Heineken ‘s digital and technology specialists with talent recruited from AI Singapore. Additionally, this core team will have access to AI Singapore’s talent pool, enabling them to connect with AI professionals and leverage innovative approaches.

“We are excited to partner with Heineken on this long-term strategic collaboration, marking them as the first organisation to work with AI Singapore in building an AI lab and centre of expertise for AI innovation,” said Laurence Liew, director at AI Singapore (ai4sme.aisingapore.org). “By combining Heineken ’s industry expertise with AI Singapore’s cutting-edge AI capabilities and talent, we are creating a powerful model for how private and public sector collaboration can drive innovations with real-world impact.”

Chan Ih-Ming, executive vice president of the Singapore Economic Development Board (www.edb.gov.sg), added: “Singapore welcomes the opening of Heineken ’s global gen AI lab, which capitalises on Singapore’s position as a talent and innovation hub for companies to pioneer AI. This initiative will allow Heineken to unlock new business value from Singapore, while concurrently serving as a valuable platform to level up on AI talent and capabilities.”

The lab builds on the brewer’s track record of gen AI implementations, including its financial insights platform that provides instant access to a decade of financial data, and its Kim (Knowledge and Insight Management) platform, which changes how its marketing teams access consumer and market insights.

Heineken (www.theheinekencompany.com) has a portfolio of more than 350 international, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders. With more than 85,000 employees, it operates breweries, malteries, cider plants and other production facilities in 70 countries.