DuPont partners with “elite start-ups” in Plug and Play accelerator program to unlock future food

10 Dec 2020 --- DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences (N&B) is joining forces with an elite host of disruptive start-ups to develop a new breed of future food. The collaboration will accelerate NPD and the development of these businesses by bringing novel solutions to market faster. These include emergent technologies in biotechnology, personalized nutrition, food safety, functional ingredients, sustainability and market analytics.

The idea is for disruptive change to “take the established food industry by surprise,” notes Birgitte Borch, global marketing leader, Food & Beverage, DuPont N&B, tells FoodIngredientsFirst in an in-depth interview. 

Plug and Play is participating in the collaboration through its Food & Beverage program, which was launched in 2017. Early next year, the start-up accelerator – which has backed big players like Google, PayPal and Dropbox – will open a location in Chicago, Illinois, US, with DuPont as a founding partner of the new office.

“We will typically start with discussions to learn more about the technology [of selected start-up businesses] and share our insights and challenges,” Borch explains..

“Once we determine that there is potential synergy, we will run pilots to test and learn the new technologies, and if successful new partnerships or business arrangements will follow.”

The collaboration has set its sights on tapping into fast-moving trends that will develop in the F&B space over the next year. Innova Market Insights recently released its Top Ten Trends for 2021, which are expected to steer product development.

By the middle of next year, DuPont N&B’s Food & Beverage platform expects to have established open innovation agreements for “unlocking the future of food.”Agreements ready mid 2021
The shortlist of talented start-ups for 2021 has already been drawn up. By the middle of next year, DuPont N&B’s Food & Beverage platform expects to have established open innovation agreements for “unlocking the future of food.”

Plug and Play will source and vet the start-ups in order to establish an initial list of 50-100 “elite start-ups.” Board Members will then select 30 to 40 start-ups to further review. 

“Eventually 10 to 20 start-ups will be admitted to the accelerator program,” Borch continues. “The most promising candidates are invited to pitch their technologies to our business and technology teams, and discussions about potential collaboration will begin.”

“Plant-based meat and dairy offerings have proliferated and been fueled by new innovations driven by start-ups that are closing the gaps with traditional products.”

This partnership builds upon a series of targets for scaling up investment activities for DuPont N&B. The company recently made strides to propel food-tech developments through a partnership between its Food & Beverage platform and the Institute for the Future.

Start-up culture appears resilient during COVID-19, with innovation pegged as critical for sustaining agri-food supply chains during this challenging time. Broadening the innovation ecosystem
Plug and Play now operates more than 60 global accelerator programs and in 2019 supported around1,450 start-ups. 

“We use our insights and market forecasts to identify the technologies that will be business critical to the food industry moving forward,” says Borch.

Lengthy R&D-to-market processes are one of the disadvantages that FMCG giants face when compared to start-ups. Exacerbating the issue, COVID-19 has deepened funding challenges in some areas of the F&B sector, particularly in Europe.

Even so, start-up culture appears resilient, with innovation pegged as critical for sustaining agri-food supply chains during this challenging time. 

In this space, Nestlé recently launched a platform for innovation, bringing together start-ups, students and scientists to leverage the F&B giant’s dairy and plant protein expertise in rapid time. 

Also this year, Rabobank’s FoodBytes! Pitch 2020 shone a light on start-ups piloting regenerative agriculture solutions and upcycled products to fight waste, while Eat Beyond Global Holdings honed its investment focus on Singaporean plant-based and lab-grown protein disruptors.

Among other emergent food-tech developments, temperature-sensitive labeling, automated kitchen tech and a natural preservation alternative were among the standout F&B concepts set to earn a share of EIT Food’s €5.4 million (US$6.4 million) investment fund.

In a previous interview with FoodIngredientsFirst, Caroline Bijkerk, global partnerships manager at StartLife, detailed the crucial role start-ups play in helping big corporations bring key trends, such as sustainability and personalized nutrition, to consumers. 

By Benjamin Ferrer