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IFF has revealed plans to renovate and expand its facilities in Shanghai, China, constructing a new Shanghai Creative Center.

Expected to be fully operational by the end of August 2024, the 16,000-square-metre site will be IFF’s largest in Asia.

The new facility will drive the development of innovative solutions across the IFF portfolio in China and the Greater Asia market, strengthening its position in fragrances, flavours, functional ingredients and bioscience-based portfolios.

IFF’s knowledge and experience in these sectors, coupled with this investment in the innovation centre, positions the firm to offer differentiated products to market quickly and effectively to support its customers’ brand growth strategies in China.

The newly renovated site is designed with collaboration and co-creation in mind and is poised to become a hub for technical and sensory exploration.

The facilities include an open-office layout, a sensory science centre, a scent creative centre, and labs set up for creation, design and product analysis, fostering an environment where all technical disciplines converge.

The site will also feature a culinary demo kitchen, instant noodle pilot line, fine fragrance area and a 360° digital space, offering an immersive olfactory experience that provides an area for live-streaming educational workshops.

Erik Fyrwald, IFF’s CEO, said: “The Shanghai Creative Center will bring together capabilities across IFF, all in one location, enabling us to improve our delivery of end-to-end solutions for customers in Asia and around the world. This was a natural next step following the opening of our Singapore Innovation Center in 2022 and reaffirms our dedication to advancing innovation in Asia.”

IFF’s scent president, Ana Paula Mendonça, added: “IFF has a long track-record of partnering with our customers to create successful solutions that meet their consumers’ needs. The Shanghai Creative Center will foster outstanding ideation, supporting the art of taste, biotech and perfumery, for even more out-of-the-box innovation across our portfolio."

The centre is strategically positioned to meet the nuanced tastes of Chinese consumers, serving local, regional and international markets.

This is the latest in a number of announcements and investments from IFF. In April, the firm opened a new co-creation centre in Wageningen, the Netherlands, while it opened a new co-creation centre in South Korea in November 2023. In August last year, it completed the construction of its North American Creation and Design centre in New Century, Kansas and this February, the firm appointed Jon Erik Fyrwald as its chief executive and member of the board of directors, succeeding Frank Clyburn.

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