AMOR and REMA 1000 at the Professional Day of the Langs Akerselva Festival

At the professional day of the festival Langs Akerselva, Professor Fabian Harang from BI Norwegian Business School and Sindre Andreassen, Head of Operations at REMA 1000, engaged in a dialogue on how collaboration between academia, business, and public administration can help address complex and real-world challenges in society and industry.

Sindre Andreassen, Head of Operations at REMA 1000, and professor Fabian Harang, BI Norwegian Business School, during the Professional Day of the Langs Akerselva Festival. Photo: Adrian Vaagsnes/BI

A central theme in the presentation was the partnership between REMA 1000 and the project Smart Food Flow, where BI and REMA 1000 together explore how artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics can improve demand forecasting, reduce food waste, and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

For REMA 1000, this collaboration is crucial. “We have a hectic operational day-to-day, and we greatly value the knowledge exchange we can gain from researchers at BI. This can help us address one of our biggest challenges: how we can become radically more sustainable as a company,” Andreassen said.

Yngve Kveine, Director of Corporate and External Relations at BI, highlighted the importance of collaboration between academia and business, and briefly described how BI works with this in practice. Photo: Adrian Vaagsnes/BI

Harang also emphasized that collaboration is not only about projects, but about relationships built over time. Shared goals, clear roles, flexibility, and trust are essential to achieving meaningful results. Equally important are arenas such as Langs Akerselva, which connect people, ideas, and action – and provide a foundation for long-term partnerships.