Anheuser-Busch opens ‘Bud Lab’ at U of Illinois
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS September 4, 2013 10:16AM
Updated: September 4, 2013 10:16AM
CHAMPAIGN — The world’s largest brewer is setting up shop at the University of Illinois.
Anheuser-Busch InBev is opening a data analytics center called “Bud Lab” at the University of Illinois Research Park in Champaign.
The brewer is based in Belgium and sells Budweiser, Stella Artois and other beers.
In a statement, the company says the lab will study “assortment optimization” along with social media and market trends and other “large-scale data initiatives.”
Lab director Rafael Pinterich tells The Champaign News-Gazette that the facility is the brewer’s first permanent presence on a college campus.
So far, the facility has several interns — most of whom have backgrounds in statistics and industrial engineering. But Pinterich hopes to recruit more student workers this semester who are studying math, business and computer science.
