Unilever Builds Pioneering Foods Innovation Center at Wageningen

07 Oct 2016 --- Unilever is to build a new global foods innovation center at Wageningen University & Research (WUR), promising to open up new horizons for sustainably feeding the increasingly urban world.The Unilever announcement means the company will move all roles in R&D Foods currently based in Vlaardingen (the Netherlands), Heilbronn (Germany) and Poznan (Poland), to the new global Foods Innovation Center in Wageningen. It’s due to be fully operational by April 2019 and will accommodate around 550 roles.

Unilever says that by co-locating R&D resources in its categories of home and personal care, food and refreshments, it will create a “critical mass” in expertise areas to make sure pioneering technologies and innovation breakthroughs come to market. On top of this, Unilever plans to evolve its R&D site into innovation ecosystem to leverage the knowledge and expertise of external partners. 

"The Agri-Food Innovation climate in The Netherlands is very strong. The co-location of all elements of our Foods R&D organization within the Foods Innovation ecosystem in Wageningen will enable Unilever to strengthen its ability to develop cutting edge foods innovations in close collaboration with the Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and a broad variety of other science institutes and startups,” says President Unilever Europe, Jan Zijderveld.

“The Foods Innovation ecosystem in Wageningen will bring together a strong combination of in-house R&D and external science and technology, talent and facilities, increasing the impact of Unilever’s own resources and capabilities, and ultimately creating the innovative power that we need to provide leadership in foods,” adds President Unilever Foods, Amanda Sourry.

The R&D Home Care, Personal Care and Refreshment organizations that are currently based in Vlaardingen will move to the Innovation ecosystems in Port Sunlight (Home & Personal Care) and to Colworth Science Park (Refreshment). These moves and the move of the Foods R&D organization from Vlaardingen to Wageningen lead to the fact that the Vlaardingen site will close over time. Unilever will now start the consultation process. The building of the Foods Innovation Center in Wageningen will only start following the completion of this process. 

Wageningen welcomes Unilever’s decision, claiming that WUR is a proven location because of its concentration of private and public leading research centers on one base. 

“The arrival of Unilever will only further strengthen the agri-food innovation eco-system in Wageningen. Dutch food companies are globally leading when it comes to innovative research based solutions in the field of food production. Over ten percent of the GNP in the Netherlands is produced by the agri-food companies and over 600,000 people work in the sector. This is the result of comprehensive cooperation between government, business and research institutions over the past decades,” says WUR. 

Executive board member of WUR, Dr. Tijs Breukink, is leading the development of the innovation campus-ecosystem and has been the linking pin in talks between Unilever and WUR. He emphasizes that diversity is important for a vibrant innovation ecosystem.

“The presence of academic and applied research, start-ups and established companies in combination with shared cutting edge facilities makes for an inspiring green environment and creates critical mass for a vibrant innovation oriented community,” he says. “It will enable the Dutch agri-food sector to remain frontrunner in its field.”