DMV International opens innovation centre for food & nutrition

15/05/06 DMV International has officially opened “Innovium”, its new Innovation Centre for Food & Nutrition. The opening is claimed to be an important milestone in achieving DMV International’s innovation ambitions and creates a place where customers, marketing and R&D can interact. Innovium is located in the heart of ‘Food Valley’, an internationally recognised centre of excellence in Food Sciences in the region of Wageningen-The Netherlands.

“This is the boost we needed to initiate the next phase of our innovation ambitions. The move to Innovium is in conformance with our strategy, in which we give priority to a market and innovation driven approach on the one hand – with the objective to develop and market more value added ingredients – and a focus on efficiency in operations on the other hand. To that end, we plan to finalize our € 57 million investment project, Veghel Force, by the end of the year, focusing on efficient large scale processing of new whey based food ingredients. Innovium will provide our customers, marketing and R&D groups with a platform for effective exchange of ideas. This is a big opportunity for the company and will further boost the search for innovative solutions”, says Alexander R. Wessels, Managing Director of DMV International.

The new Innovium building houses laboratories (physical chemist, biochemistry analysis and cell culture), testing kitchens, a small scale pilot hall for initial testing of process design, a library and flexible work- and meeting rooms. Innovium provides in total 2100 m2 of laboratory and office space and offers a stimulating working environment for approx. 50 employees from marketing, fundamental research, product- and process development. “Within Innovium we are bringing together critical disciplines involved in the innovation process. The creative working environment, which breathes transparency, provides extra stimulation for cooperation, internally and also externally with our customers”, explains David Clark, R&D Director at DMV International.

The main drivers for the decision to invest in and move to Innovium were:

· bringing together fundamental R&D, product and process innovation, plus the marketing groups at one location, promotes an effective exchange of ideas, creates synergy with the outcome of shortening of time to market for new products and solutions

· Innovium provides a technological infrastructure that fits the objective of being a leading innovator in the Food & Nutrition industry

· the location of Innovium is at the heart of Food Valley, ensuring direct interaction with the academic world and institutes (Wageningen University and Research Centre) in project work but also to source international talent for the future.

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