Symrise has launched its first global Data & AI Hub in Barcelona on September 8, 2025, marking a major milestone in its digitalization strategy. The hub creates a dedicated platform for developing advanced data-driven solutions that strengthen innovation across Symrise’s core customer markets, including food, beverages, nutrition, pet food, fragrances, personal and household care. Around twenty-five postgraduates have joined an intensive 12-month program designed to combine structured learning with hands-on experience, laying the foundation for a sustainable in-house Data & AI capability.
Barcelona as innovation hub
Symrise selected Barcelona for its outstanding talent pool, strong academic institutions, and vibrant technology ecosystem. The city’s connectivity and existing Symrise presence make it an ideal location for this strategic initiative. The hub provides an inspiring environment where teams design ideas, build prototypes, and transform them into scalable solutions that deliver measurable benefits for customers in highly competitive markets.
Driving value for customer industries
The #BCN Hub enables Symrise to create digital solutions that help customers respond faster to consumer trends, optimize product development, and ensure supply chain resilience. By focusing on six key business areas – finance, research & development, procurement, supply chain, consumer insights, and sustainability – the hub supports the delivery of high-quality, and sustainable products. The approach empowers manufacturers to accelerate innovation cycles, improve transparency, bring personalized, trend-driven products to market more efficiently.
Leadership perspectives
“The #BCN Hub will become an inhouse center for innovation, collaboration, and transformation at Symrise,” says Eliza Millet, Chief Digital & Information Officer. “It will allow us to accelerate product development, strengthen strategic business planning and boost operational efficiency.” Chief Transformation Officer Nick Russel adds: “Digitalization goes beyond advancing projects – it opens new ways to approach challenges creatively and deliver value to our customers.”
Career program for digital talents
The program welcomes graduates from diverse fields such as computer science, physics, and bioinformatics. Participants bring strong analytical skills and the ability to adapt quickly to complex topics. Symrise combines structured training with real-world projects and offers intensive mentoring from experienced experts in digital transformation and analytics. This personalized guidance accelerates learning and creates long-term career opportunities within the company, ensuring a steady pipeline of digital talent to support customer-focused innovation.
Local integration and technology platforms
The hub actively engages with Barcelona’s innovation ecosystem. Symrise collaborates with the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, participates in recruitment events, and partners with technology leaders such as Microsoft. The company also plans community events and meetups to foster knowledge exchange within the tech scene.
On the technology side, the hub leverages Symrise’s established platforms: the Atl@s Lakehouse built on Databricks for advanced analytics, UiPath for process automation, and Mendix for rapid application development. This combination ensures fast prototyping and smooth scaling of solutions that enhance efficiency and responsiveness across the value chain.
Key facts at a glance
The hub launched with around 25 postgraduates and represents Symrise’s first facility of this kind. It serves as a blueprint for future hubs worldwide and reinforces the company’s commitment to digital transformation as a driver of growth and innovation for its customers.
Looking ahead
With the #BCN Hub, Symrise sets a clear course for the future. The company aims to expand its digital capabilities, strengthen its global presence, and continuously deliver innovative solutions that help customers in food, beverage, nutrition, pet food, scent & care, and cosmetics succeed in dynamic markets. This hub marks the beginning of a journey that will shape the next chapter of Symrise’s digital transformation story.
