Arla Foods has inaugurated a multi-million euro innovation centre in Denmark that will allow it to ‘put innovation at the centre of its growth plans for the next decade’.
FoodBev reported on the company’s plans to invest in a global innovation centre back in 2013 at a reported cost of DKK 270 million ($40 million) – though Arla has not revealed how much the final project cost.
The site in Aarhus will play a pivotal role in the company’s collaboration with its customers, and will allow it to pursue its Good Growth 2020 strategy of growing branded sales and expanding organic dairy sales in the next four years.
Arla Foods CEO Peder Tuborgh said: “As a dairy cooperative, we are built on farmers getting together in the 1880s to create better opportunities together. It is in our DNA to collaborate to achieve better results. Our new global innovation centre will apply that same approach to our research and development of not just new products but also new ways to consume them. The global food industry has never been more competitive than it is today – especially in Europe and across the emerging markets with its booming middle class of consumers in Asia, Africa and beyond. The best innovator wins.
“We have set high ambitions for our business in the coming years, because we believe and see that demand is growing worldwide for natural dairy products that help people make good food choices. We are investing heavily in innovation to respond to this global demand and to create better returns for our farmer-owners. The work that will take place at our new innovation centre is crucial to us achieving our goals.”
The location in Aarhus is strategically important; Arla’s new innovation centre is located among a cluster of food companies including Finnish meat company HK Scan, flavour company Firmenich, and Naturli’ Foods – the plant-based food brand owned by Orkla.
Aarhus is also one of two European Capitals of Culture 2017 and has set itself up to become the Silicon Valley of food innovation.
“By securing a location in the midst of one of the world’s strongest and most ambitious food clusters, Arla will gain much better opportunities to strike new partnerships and alliances,” said Arla senior-vice president of research and development Sven Thormahlen. “We are confident that our new global innovation centre will accelerate and drive the environment and become the beacon that will attract even more international companies and research institutes. It will be a huge asset for us and the entire Danish food [industry].”
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