Scottish Food and Drink Companies Benefiting From Innovation Project

09 Jun 2014 --- Scottish food and drink companies have been benefitting from a unique project that is helping them invest in R&D and develop new products for the lucrative health, nutrition and wellbeing market.

The Food & Health Innovation Service (FHIS), funded by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and managed by a consortium led by Campden BRI, was established in 2011, and has so far helped over 250 companies on a one-to-one basis with their NPD endeavours.

Project leader, Philip Richardson commented: “The global market for health, nutrition and wellness products is growing strongly, and a thriving Scottish food and drink sector, with a fantastic source of intrinsically healthy raw materials on the doorstep, is ideally placed to capitalise upon this opportunity. Developing healthy food and drink products can be a challenge for companies of all sizes, particularly when it comes to deploying the correct blend of science, technology and marketing to maximise commercial success. FHIS helps companies navigate the landscape, implement solutions that are appropriate to their business, and maximise the chances of success.”

He added: “We have supported a varied mix of companies over the past three years, from entrepreneurial new-starts and SMEs, through to some of Scotland’s largest and most well known food manufacturers, all of whom have benefited from the bespoke service that FHIS can offer. FHIS is truly unique, as we provide a one-stop-shop for companies who are in, or looking to enter, the market for healthy food and drink, providing as we can access to leading technical, legislative, marketing and scientific expertise to help support R&D efforts and create innovative, market-led products.”

Karsten Karcher, Founder and CEO of high-growth food company Pulsetta, explained: “The support we received from FHIS and partners has been hugely helpful in the ongoing development of Pulsetta as a business. The ability of FHIS to provide access to the right resources at the right time in a coordinated manner makes it an invaluable addition to the business support landscape in Scotland. I would encourage any company engaged in the development of healthy food and drink products to get in touch to see how FHIS can help.”

Over the period a considerable number of companies have been looking for advice and support around product reformulation, as pressure comes to bear to reduce fat, sugar and salt from products. There has also been a huge amount of interest in ‘free from’ food and drink products, as well as from companies who are seeking to exploit the intrinsically healthy characteristics of products they offer.