DISPATCHES FROM ZENITH GLOBAL DAIRY CONGRESS 2015
Inside.... FrieslandCampina's Innovation Centre, the Netherlands
DairyReporter.com editor Mark Astley joined representatives from companies including Dean Foods, Tnuva and Lactalis for a tour of the facility.
The €70m (US78m) Innovation Centre - opened in October 2013 by Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands - enabled the Dutch dairy giant to bring its 350-strong R&D workforce under one roof.
"We took them, two years ago, out of business and brought them together here," Ger Willems, site manager and director of scientific affairs at FrieslandCampina, told visitors.
"We used to have one group that would work on yogurt, another that would work on cheese, and so on."
"You need all the disciplines together to really get innovation going," Willems said.
“FrieslandCampina is not in the business of winning Nobel Prizes. We’re in the business of innovating for consumers. Science for us is a means to an end," he added.