Accelerating innovation: Givaudan partners with food-tech incubator The Kitchen

19 Feb 2019 --- Global flavor and fragrance company Givaudan has partnered with The Kitchen, a food-tech incubator. In line with the company’s culture of open innovation, the partnership with The Kitchen will enable Givaudan to further expand its innovation ecosystem by connecting with Israel-based food entrepreneurs who are seeking to contribute to the creation of healthier and sustainable products and solutions.

Founded in 2015 as a part of the incubators program of Israel Innovation Authority, and owned by the Strauss Group, The Kitchen is Israel’s only food-tech focused incubator. The company addresses global food challenges by harnessing Israel’s innovation ecosystems.

“Our partnership with The Kitchen is the latest example of Givaudan’s commitment to addressing global food challenges. We are thrilled to share our capabilities with entrepreneurs in one of the most dynamic food-tech ecosystems in the world and jointly develop new technologies and solutions that will shape the future of good and sustainable food,” explains Givaudan’s Head of Science & Technology, Flavours, Fabio Campanile.

“We believe The Kitchen can help us find and engage with entrepreneurs who can deliver great impact both to our current core business and to our evolving business. In turn, The Kitchen will learn about Givaudan's innovation and technology needs and look for the most promising innovators in the Israeli ecosystem, to help Givaudan launch breakthrough technologies and create business impact for our customers,” Campanile tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

Broadly the challenges facing the global food system are to make it more productive, more affordable, more sustainable, and healthier, and the goal at The Kitchen is to nourish promising FoodTech ventures that can disrupt the global food system to enable this to happen, according to Campanile.

Israel is known as the “start-up nation” worldwide, says Campanile. “Traditionally, most of its natural entrepreneurial spirit is reflected in the high tech and digital industries,” he continues. “What we have observed lately is that this same technology powerhouse is now more and more focused on the food and agricultural industries, which makes it more relevant for our customers.”

Givaudan is continually looking at other ecosystems around the world and developing other partnerships that can help us bring innovations to the market and create healthier, more sustainable and more affordable food options, Campanile notes.

“This partnership is the latest example of Givaudan’s open innovation strategy, where we engage with food start-ups and entrepreneurs in the most active innovation hubs in the world such as Future Food Initiative, MISTA, Bits x Bites, MassChallenge and EIT Food.”

Front End Innovation (FEI) is the starting point where opportunities are identified, and concepts are developed before entering the formal product development process. “Ultimately, everything we do with start-ups and collaborators in this space is designed to create impact and added value for our customers, whether by developing new solutions or enhancing our existing solutions,” Campanile explains.

Jonathan Berger, CEO of The Kitchen, also notes: “Israel plays an important role in creating innovative food technologies, and our goal at The Kitchen is to nourish promising food-tech ventures that can disrupt the global food system making it more productive, more affordable, more sustainable and healthier.”

“Our partnership with Givaudan will provide food-tech start-ups with a wealth of food science knowledge and sensory expertise to help them navigate challenges in their product development journeys,” says Berger.

Last month, FoodIngredientsFirst reported that Israeli dairy alternative innovator Yofix secured the top prize in PepsiCo’s European Nutrition Greenhouse program. Yofix was the first company to join The Kitchen FoodTech Hub.

In November 2018, FoodIngredientsFirst reported that Givaudan opened an innovation platform for the food industry. Coined MISTA, the platform seeks to aid start-ups and established corporations to optimize ideas and products, scale-up projects, search for partners and build dynamic teams to meet the constant challenges of the food industry.

MISTA is more than an incubator or accelerator, according to Givaudan, as it advances innovation by helping companies develop new ways of thinking through a hyper-connected platform with a more collaborative and inclusive approach.

By Elizabeth Green

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