Home of Innovation on the Road: adidas Innovation Lab lands at China International Import Expo
adidas Chief Creative Officer Alasdhair Willis shares how the brand brings its Innovation Lab to CIIE in Shanghai, showing how Coolest, Fastest & Strongest can travel into markets and connect global innovation with China’s creativity, talent, and speed.
Building on the momentum of Home of Innovation, adidas brings it’s Innovation Lab to CIIE in Shanghai, showing how Future of Cool, Future of Fast & Future of Strength can travel into markets and connect global innovation with China’s creativity, talent, and speed.
Home of Innovation was never intended to be a single moment or destination. It is our living laboratory: a place to explore, test, learn, and refine, transforming athlete insights into the next generation of performance solutions. Following the momentum built at our global headquarters, we have now started taking that thinking on the road and into markets.
This year's China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai marked an important step in that journey. Held annually, CIIE connects international businesses, ideas, and technologies with the Chinese market. At the center of the adidas presence was the adidas Innovation Lab, a focused expression of Home of Innovation created for partners, media, and guests.
A global platform, expressed locally
For CIIE, adidas Innovation Lab brought the Home of Innovation philosophy to life through an experience created specifically for China, connecting our global innovation ambition with the creativity, talent, and speed of the market.
Visitors could explore the ideas, experimentation and prototypes behind our pursuit of athlete performance, reinforcing a simple belief: only the best for the athlete, at speed.
Coolest, Fastest & Strongest continue to provide the foundation for our innovation ambition. CIIE demonstrated how these three territories can show up in market through a focused selection of concepts across cooling, speed and body support, adapted to the audience and moment while staying connected to one consistent global narrative.
Global innovation meets China for China
Bringing the Innovation Lab to CIIE also demonstrated what China for China can mean for innovation. The opportunity is to combine adidas’ global capabilities with China’s creativity, consumer understanding, talent, manufacturing expertise, and speed of execution.
More than 95% of the products adidas sells in China are made locally, while more than 65% are designed by Creation Center Shanghai. Around 25% of products designed by the center are also sold internationally, showing how locally relevant ideas can create impact beyond China.
Continuing the momentum
The adidas Innovation Lab at CIIE marks the next chapter for Home of Innovation. What began in Herzogenaurach is now going on the road, bringing our innovation story closer to our partners, media, and communities around the world.
At its heart are Coolest, Fastest & Strongest, the three foundational territories established at Home of Innovation 2026. Together, they are shaping how we focus our innovation ambition moving forward, and CIIE is an exciting example of how those territories can now come to life for new audiences to experience, understand and celebrate.
And this is only the beginning.
It is a future we are continuously building, fueled by athletes, creativity, and the belief that there is always another possibility to unlock.
Because ultimately, our ambition goes beyond creating the next innovation. It is about helping write the next chapter of sport and establishing adidas as the leading innovation brand for sport and performance.