Innovation Lives on the Fringes: What the 2025 Global Pet Expo Teaches Us About Scaling Through Adjacent Industries

The 2025 Global Pet Expo was a masterclass in how innovation often emerges not from the center, but from the edges.

In a space dominated by traditional players, it was a rising company named Veterinary Exam Assistant (VEA) that captured headlines and hearts. As the unanimous Grand Prize Winner of the 2025 Pet Care Innovation Prize, sponsored by Purina, VEA exemplifies a bold, often-overlooked thesis: the future of pet care will be shaped by ideas borrowed from outside of it. But they are not alone.

Scaling Through Adjacent, Non-Endemic Business Models

The winners of tomorrow will embrace a simple belief: animal health doesn't have to invent everything from scratch. It can and should adapt proven strategies from parallel industries. Whether it’s automation tools from logistics, AI decision-support systems from human healthcare, or consumer experience models from retail, the winners are weaving external innovation into the internal fabric of veterinary care.