Symrise Launches New Asia-Pacific Innovation & Technology Centre
25 May 2017 --- Symrise AG unveiled its new Asia-Pacific Flavor Innovation and Technology Centre on 23 May 2017. It was officially opened by Dr Heinz-Jürgen Bertram, CEO of Symrise AG.
The Centre marks the completion of the company’s over €30 million expansion of its regional headquarters in Singapore, which aims to boost local food manufacturing capabilities and to contribute to Singapore‘s vision of becoming Asia’s regional food & nutrition hub. Partners, customers and guests from around Asia attended the event.
“Asia is fast becoming one of the main global sources of influence and inspiration for innovative food products. And major centers for business, lifestyle, technology, health and nutrition like Singapore will be at the heart of this megatrend,” said Dr Heinz-Jürgen Bertram, Chief Executive Officer of Symrise AG.
“Similarly, Singapore will continue to be within the heart of our growth story and I believe the new research and innovation facilities will ignite greater collaboration, connectivity and creativity among industry stakeholders. That will further develop Singapore’s food research and manufacturing industry capabilities.”
Based in the company’s new state-of-the-art regional HQ building, the center houses several facilities that have been designed in accordance with Symrise’s R&D strategy which focuses on connecting megatrends, consumer needs, customer requirements, sustainability, innovation and cost efficiency. 
“Recognizing that Asian consumer tastes are the future drivers of the global flavor industry, I am pleased to announce that Symrise will be the first major firm to base its Global Sensory and Consumer Insight function and teams in Asia,” added Mr Lionel Flutto, President, Flavor, Asia Pacific, Symrise. “This emphasizes both, our commitment to Asia, and forming the foundation of our future innovations research, technology and development.”
Helping Local and Regional Firms Decipher Evolving Asian Tastes
The Flavor Innovation and Technology Centre is the latest Symrise initiative to help food manufacturing, FMCG, nutritional supplement and pharmaceutical companies gain insights into the tastes and preferences of Asia’s increasingly influential consumers. Research and technology capabilities will be applied to discover new flavor compounds, create new natural and sustainable products that meet the preferences and cultural requirements of Asian consumers and to demonstrate how these new products can be applied in shelf-stable manufactured foods. This research will be applied to develop both, food flavor innovation for customers in Asia, and also to support innovation driven projects for key global customers.
The intention is to evolve industry expertise within Symrise Asia Pacific to a level that will allow the creation of new technologies for Singapore and regional customers. With the launch of the new Centre, Symrise Asia Pacific will also be able to mirror the capabilities available at the company’s global headquarters in Germany, and accelerate the development of new products for Singapore companies looking to grow across Asia.
Looking to the Future
The next phase in the expansion and enhancement of Symrise regional operations here in Singapore will focus on the expansion and restructuring of Scent and Care (S&C) innovation, creation, oral care, life essentials and aroma molecules. The expansion will allow for the establishment of a new S&C Consumer Insights Centre. This center will enable S&C to develop deeper market understanding, in order to create commercially effective branding campaigns, which is one of S&C’s core competencies.
