DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences (DuPont N&B) has taken a further step in advancing innovation in the food industry through a partnership between its Food & Beverage platform and the Institute for the Future (IFTF). 

The collaboration seeks to drive far-sighted food and beverage innovation that anticipates shifts in market needs.

Today, food manufacturers are already relying on trend-tracking capabilities to inspire and enable NPD, according to Dupont N&B. 

By partnering with IFTF, DuPont N&B aims to sharpen the ability to co-create innovation with customers and build on long-term forecasts that look ten years and beyond.

Eyeing stronger brands
Birgitte Borch, global marketing leader, Food & Beverage, DuPont N&B, explains how the well-researched foresight of IFTF will support stronger food brands.

“Short-term product development strategies are common in the food industry, wher consumer demands constantly change. It’s not unusual that new F&B launches are a knee-jerk reaction to a trend that appears out of the blue,” Borch explains.

“Along with IFTF, we will be looking into trend development beyond consumer behaviors and developing strategic foresight with scenarios that impact industry in the short- and long-term, to help them get ahead of the markets.”

“This will help our customers navigate in uncertain times and understand the impact on the value chain with a holistic view of the challenges and opportunities. Our work with IFTF will allow us to be prepared with the right solutions, ingredient technology and application concepts, and enable our customers to be more proactive in their product development strategies,” she continues.

A new normal
Speaking with FoodIngredientsFirst about the events of 2020, Borch says “every brand owner has to adapt to the new normal.”

Consumer patterns have changed – the way food is consumed, what foods are consumed, and in which formats – there is a demand rising for immune health and locally produced food, and a change in on-the-go concepts, she details. 

“Food innovation is constantly in the spotlight and especially now with so much uncertainty,” adds Borch. 

The world looks different, consumer behaviors change, ways of working and relationship building changes. According to Borch, the partnership with IFTF will enable DuPont to help investigate and navigate challenges ahead to capture opportunities. 

One such example is foodservice, she flags. “It was set to outgrow home consumption and is now being disrupted by new home delivery platforms and restaurants, turning to be purely focused on delivery – food companies will need to prepare for the new business models that are being accelerated.”

“Foresight is not an easy discipline for any company, as it is not about predicting the future, but developing hypotheses on how the future could look like and choosing the ones that makes most sense for the business. We want to get stronger in this discipline,” Borch urges. 

“We believe that by bringing together foresight capabilities with our insight and deep scientific expertise, we will be an even stronger partner for our customers. Our customers look to us for guidance; this is an important part of our partnership and value proposition, and why we keep strengthening our expertise in this area and push our boundaries.”

Disrupting the food sector
IFTF has a reputation for mapping market drivers and signals and providing long-term perspectives on change. All forecasts are based on a systematic review of social, technological, economic, environmental and political factors.

“Through our partnership with IFTF, we can better understand how these trends will evolve in the future,” Borch adds. “This is key to building and maintaining success in fast-moving markets and will increasingly be part of the conversations we have with food manufacturers.” 

DuPont is constantly scouting for the best partnerships to ensure we are the best innovation and development partner for its customers. 

“We’ve long appreciated that market innovation provides opportunities to bring in an outside perspective and it’s integral to our product development processes. Focused collaboration with our strategic partners not only increases the number of ideas, it expands the range of solutions and allows for quick, iterative feedback leading to faster time to market,” Borch asserts.