adidas taps project44 tech with focus on how AI transforming supply chain over next decade

project44, an AI powered decision intelligence platform for supply chains, has landed adidas as a customer.

In a LinkedIn post, Jett McCandless, Founder and CEO at project44, said: "Been chasing adidas for eight years. Last week, we officially closed them."

He added: "Eight years ago, Germany had just lifted the World Cup. Some of the players we’ll be watching this summer were still kids back then. That is how long this has been in the making. The adidas team impressed me from day one. Thoughtful. Grounded. Ambitious.”

“They have the rare ability to manage immediate, high stakes pressure, especially with a World Cup on the horizon, while staying obsessed with how software and AI will transform their supply chain over the next decade."

McCandless concluded: "Huge credit to our Europe team for earning trust the right way. This win wasn’t down to one person. It was a massive lift across product, sales, CS, and engineering. This is the team building the decision intelligence platform and logistics operating system for the world’s most demanding brands."

"I want to personally thank Sridhar Bhargav (Senior Director, Digital Process Management & Solutions) and Benedikt Birner (Vice President Global Partnerships) for the partnership. We don’t take the trust you’ve placed in us lightly."

Birju Shah

Birju Shah recently joined project44 as Senior Advisor.

He previously led AI and machine learning initiatives as an executive at Uber. Shah is also a joint Clinical Assistant Professor at Kellogg School of Management and Northwestern McCormick School of Engineering, where he teaches building intelligent systems and AI platforms to executives, MBA, and undergrads.

"This announcement helps supply chain leaders move beyond experimentation and put AI to work where it matters most; execution and complex decision making," said McCandless. "Birju has built AI products that operate at extraordinary scale. His guidance will help us accelerate how we apply agentic and reasoning AI across Movement to deliver real, differentiated value for our customers."

"project44 is the only supply chain company I've seen that truly differentiates collecting, normalizing, and automating the path from data to decisions across the entire end-to-end supply chain for a global customer base,” said Shah.

“By translating real-world operational signals into actionable intelligence grounded in customers' planning and execution challenges, project44 is positioned to become a critical infrastructure and reasoning layer for resilient, highly complex supply chains."

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

Supply chain technology will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards will open for entries in April. They celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Thursday, 15th October.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.