DuPont to open new innovation centre in Japan

DuPont Nutrition & Health is set to open its new Innovation & Application Center in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, later this year.

The new centre will provide a variety of solutions and innovations for its customers, which primarily operate within the Japanese bakery, beverage and dairy industries, as well as in Korea.

The facility will span 700m² and is slated to feature segregated areas for the research and development of new products for these industries.

DuPont Nutrition & Health global innovation leader Kobus de Klerk said: “This innovation centre is designed to give our customers a deeper involvement in the development process, which will help us deliver the exact solutions they’re pursuing in a much shorter time span.

“The face-to-face interaction will help us improve relationships with our customers and provide them with the full benefits of DuPont’s cross-functional solutions and our complete range of ingredients.”

The bakery lab will include equipment for the production of various breads, rolls, steamed cakes and doughnuts, while the dairy area will be primarily used to make several types of yoghurt, fermented drinks, beverages and ice creams.

Additionally, the site will include a dry blend lab for the creation of customised system blends using a granulator, compressed tablet machine and revolving pan.

Its micro-testing lab will be used to conduct stability tests on the enumeration of probiotics using prototypes of customers’ products that have been formulated with strains from DuPont Danisco.

DuPont’s Innovation & Application Center will allow customers to work directly with the company’s scientists to develop solutions using a range of customised system blends and dietary supplements in order to meet the varying needs of their local markets.

DuPont Nutrition & Health Japan sales leader Nobuaki Tsukagoshi said: “While this facility gives us incredible innovation potential, the real focus is on our customers and delivering solutions to solve the market challenges they face.

“This innovation centre also would serve as a hub for senior food development that will allow other markets to leverage on our strong innovation capabilities, especially in the senior foods space.”