The latest news, trends, analysis, interviews and podcasts from the global food and beverage industry
From plant-based products to AI-driven processing, food innovation centres are quietly transforming the sector. By combining pilot-scale facilities, expert teams and collaborative ecosystems, they help manufacturers accelerate product development, reduce risk and bring tomorrow’s foods to market faster than ever. FoodBev's Leah Smith spoke with some of the UK's leading labs...
Food innovation centres have become essential for companies navigating a rapidly, constantly changing market. By combining pilot-scale production, analytical testing and sensory evaluation, these centres allow manufacturers to experiment with new formulations and production methods before committing to full-scale launches. For smaller brands, they offer capabilities that would be prohibitively expensive to replicate in-house, effectively levelling the playing field.
These labs also serve as hubs of expertise and collaboration. Scientists, product developers and technologists work alongside manufacturers to solve complex technical challenges, from ingredient optimisation to regulatory compliance. The co-location of skills, equipment and knowledge accelerates product development, reduces risk and ensures innovation is commercially viable and market-ready.
Beyond individual companies, innovation labs strengthen the wider food ecosystem. By fostering collaboration between start-ups, multinational brands, universities and ingredient suppliers, they enable knowledge sharing, technology transfer and the rapid scaling of emerging solutions. They also support regional supply chains, attract investment and develop talent, making them a critical driver of both innovation and resilience across the food and beverage industry.
Accelerating product development and collaboration
The surge in plant-based foods, functional beverages and premium convenience products is accelerating both the pace and complexity of product development. Food innovation centres provide manufacturers with the laboratory facilities, pilot-scale equipment, and specialist expertise needed to bring new concepts to market efficiently and safely.
Marchel Gorselink, global R&D director at FrieslandCampina, said: “In today’s fast-paced business environment, knowledge drives innovation. Insights must not only be generated but also shared and reused across all business units. Centralised knowledge creates a strong foundation for collaboration, efficiency and continuous improvement – turning information into impact in the business.”
For small and mid-sized producers, building this infrastructure in-house is often prohibitively expensive. Innovation centres level the playing field, giving them access to the equipment, expertise and resources needed to develop new products and compete with larger manufacturers.
“Centralised innovation centres, especially those located in universities, allow for larger collections of analytical and pilot plant kit to be made available for use, in contrast to each individual company investing in such lab and pilot facilities themselves,” noted Peter Noy from the University of Nottingham’s Food Innovation Centre.
Keith Purdie, commercial director at Colworth Science Park, agreed, adding that: “Centralised centres offer significant cost and time efficiencies. Consolidating R&D and equipment into one shared space reduces duplication, accelerates decision-making and shortens development cycles, especially for perishable or fresh goods.”
Subjit Jassy, asset manager at Gastronomica, highlighted that co-locating packaging, raw materials, brewing and other disciplines “gives teams direct access to leading technologies and expertise, accelerating experimentation and enabling more agile product development”.
The most effective innovation centres go beyond being mere facilities – they function as ecosystems. By bringing together manufacturers, start-ups, academic researchers, retailers, investors and technical specialists, they create dynamic, interdisciplinary environments where ideas, expertise and technologies intersect to drive faster, more impactful innovation.
“Building impactful innovation centres requires proactive collaboration,” said Jassy. “These spaces only work when the operator actively brings people together, aligns ambitions, and encourages partnership as part of everyday activity.”
This collaborative ethos is echoed across the sector. At The Food WorksSW in Weston-super-Mare, UK, marketing and partnerships manager Rebecca Hale emphasises that a centre’s team must be “multi-disciplinary, with experience across food factories, product development, hospitality and local authorities” to meaningfully support diverse customer needs.
“In our case," Noy added, "UoN's Food Innovation Centre benefits from being located within a university with a broad range of academic knowledge. There may be a fear that in a university there can be the temptation to look deeper into a project, but in some cases that is not required to answer the business question; the flip side is that if something interesting occurs during an R&D project and a company wishes to delve deeper, when you use an innovation centre at a university site, there is a high chance the right academic expertise can be found quickly.”
Meanwhile, at the University of Greenwich’s Medway Food Innovation Centre (MFIC), Parag Acharya notes that cross-functional integration is essential for solving complex technical challenges. “Our specialists collaborate across sustainable processing, alternative proteins, flavour analysis, algae biotechnology and fresh produce storage. Housing these capabilities under one roof breaks down silos and supports faster, more holistic innovation.”
Gorselink added: "Innovation is not a solo journey – it’s a network of ideas, expertise and partnerships. At the core of our R&D strategy is a commitment to outside-in exploration, ensuring that we stay connected to market trends, consumer needs and emerging technologies. This approach allows us to bring fresh perspectives into our organisation and transform them into impactful solutions.”
Central to this network-driven approach is assembling the right team. Expertise and experience are the foundation of innovation – without people who can translate complex food science and technology into practical, market-ready solutions, even the most advanced facilities and equipment cannot deliver meaningful results.
As Noy suggested: "The most important element is to get the right people, with the right expertise, those who are practitioners of applying food science and technology knowledge and who are able to understand the science but then translate it into practical solutions. The facilities and equipment can then follow when you know what the customer base using your services most requires.
Driving sustainability and emerging technology
Sustainability goals are reshaping product development and manufacturing strategies. Innovation centres play a vital role in testing and validating low-carbon technologies, new ingredient streams and packaging formats.
They are practical grounds for experimenting with: upcycled or alternative ingredients – something that is growing in popularity, especially with continuing supply chain issues; how to create products that are energy and water-efficient and use low-carbon manufacturing methods and ways to innovate everything from formulation to packaging.
As MFIC's Acharya noted, centres like these must now prioritise elements such as “climate-resilient technologies, personalised nutrition solutions, alternative protein scaling and AI-driven food processing,” to reflect shifting consumer priorities and regulatory pressure.
The ability to stay responsive to fast-changing regulations and market behaviour, Food WorksSW's Hale pointed out, comes down to purposeful collaboration: “We maintain systematic communication with customers, research bodies, networking organisations and service providers to ensure our offering evolves as the industry does”.
Emerging brands remain some of the most powerful innovation drivers, yet scaling from concept to commercial production is notoriously challenging.
Innovation centres reduce this risk through:
Access to shared, high-grade equipment without upfront CAPEX
Technical support and market-readiness programmes
Links to investors, co-manufacturers and supply chain partners
Flexible space and service packages that fit early-stage budgets
“Start by building strong networks,” advised Hale. “Use shared facilities, attend industry events and test development kitchens before investing in your own. Many businesses manufacture with us one or two days a month; that flexibility is invaluable.”
Acharya suggests smaller brands leverage academic partnerships, outsourced R&D, government-funded programmes and collaborative accelerators to stretch limited resources. MFIC’s four-month accelerator has already helped more than 120 businesses bring 36 new products to market.
It’s also important to remember that while technology is helpful, it is humans who are creative. “Innovation isn’t just about technology – it’s about solving real business challenges,” said Gorselink.
“Our approach combines understanding business priorities to ensure relevance and introducing new ideas that push boundaries and create growth opportunities. This synergy between business needs and creative thinking drives solutions that are both practical and visionary.”
Strengthening regional food economies
Innovation centres don’t just support individual companies – they strengthen entire regional supply chains. By attracting investment and skilled talent, creating demand for local agriculture and ingredients, and enabling technology transfer into food and beverage manufacturing, these hubs build resilience across food systems while serving as focal points for clusters of complementary businesses, boosting regional economies.
“Location is critical,” Colworth's Purdie emphasised. “Being in an innovation cluster like the UK’s Golden Triangle attracts talent, offers strong academic links, and makes it easier to collaborate.”
At MFIC, proximity to London, Kent’s horticultural sector and the Thames Freeport offers competitive advantages ranging from market access to customs benefits for international firms entering the UK.
For many emerging technologies, moving from lab to factory is the most precarious phase. This is where organisations like CPI play an essential role.
“Innovation is most impactful when it’s close to the action,” said Gorselink “That’s why we also have specialised R&D teams co-located with local markets and production sites. This proximity ensures that ideas are tested, refined, and implemented where they can make the biggest difference – right at the heart of operations.
He continued: “By embedding R&D throughout the organisation, centrally and locally, we enable end-to-end innovation. From concept development to market launch, our teams work across the value chain, ensuring rapid feedback loops between production and research, solutions tailored to local market needs and faster time-to-market for new products.”
“One of the biggest hurdles in scaling is the investment needed for pilot-scale equipment,” Kris Wadrop, managing director – materials at CPI, explained. “Pilot plants are crucial for proving a process works, but they’re rarely economically sustainable for a single business.”
CPI’s open-access model enables companies to validate processes, collect performance data and produce samples at industrially relevant scale – without the need for major capital investment. According to Wadrop, this support is crucial for helping emerging technologies “cross the valley of death” and move toward full-scale commercial production.
Marty Martens, site manager at FrieslandCampina’s Innovation Centre Wageningen, told FoodBev: “Our innovation centres and hubs are strategically located near key partners, enabling seamless collaboration and knowledge exchange. This proximity fosters joint development initiatives with industry leaders and research institutes and access to specialised assets like our pilot plant at our innovation centre, resources and talent pools. To strengthen this ecosystem, we actively host conferences and initiatives that attract new talent, identify potential collaborations and showcase our capabilities as a leading innovator.”
The Future: Digitally enabled, flexible, highly integrated
As AI, robotics, automation, precision fermentation and alternative proteins continue to advance, innovation centres are evolving to integrate these technologies, enabling faster, more flexible and data-driven product development.
As Gorselink pointed out: “We live in a digital era where data and connectivity shape every decision. For us, the most critical step in innovation is identifying consumer and customer needs in specific regions – and translating those insights into products that truly make a difference.”
FrieslandCampina's Martens agreed: “While our strategy is global, success depends on people. Each centre is powered by highly skilled employees with deep experience and specialised capabilities. Their expertise ensures that every idea is not only innovative but also feasible, scalable and impactful.”
Future hubs are likely to feature
Less physical lab space, as AI and virtual modelling reduce the need for early-stage physical trials
More flexible, modular facilities that can be reconfigured quickly
Campus-style environments with breakout spaces designed to spark interaction
Smaller city-centre sites catering to next-generation scientists
Stronger cross-border research networks linking UK hubs with EU and global innovation clusters
“AI will increasingly be used to shorten development cycles, support food safety decisions and accelerate new ingredient development,” Noy said.
At Colworth, Pioneer Group’s new Gastronomica incubator exemplifies this shift. The state-of-the-art 16,000 sq ft facility supports emerging food and drink businesses with shared infrastructure and a built-in ecosystem of established players, including new occupiers IRCA and Barry Callebaut.
MFIC is also expanding into AI-driven food processing, eco-innovative protein extraction and cross-institutional collaboration, partnering with organisations such as Imperial College’s Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein. Such initiatives highlight how food innovation centres have become central to the resilience, competitiveness and sustainability of the UK’s food and beverage sector.
Gorselink summed it up perfectly: “Innovation centres are evolving from closed, company-centric hubs into open ecosystems that thrive on collaboration. The next five years will see a fundamental shift toward greater cooperation with the external world, especially with start-and scale-ups, but also companies from non-competing and competing industries. Instead of trying to build all expertise internally, innovation centres will actively invite external knowledge in-house, creating shared spaces for co-development and rapid learning.”
“We’d expect some innovation centres to combine their expertise with computer scientists to accelerate the use of AI in food, and others will combine with clinical study facilities to address novel foods or nutraceutical validation," Nottingham University's Noy concluded. "In the future, we expect there will be many other frontiers of food innovation as well, but each will be at the intersections of disciplinary understanding.”
