The Swiss federal institutes of technology ETH Zürich and EPFL (Ecole polytechnique féderale de Lausanne) have launched Future Food – A Swiss Research Initiative (“Future Food Initiative”) together with partners Givaudan, Nestlé and Bühler.
Stefan Scheiber, Bühler Group CEO, explained: “We are stepping up as an industry to address challenges in the food value chain. Bühler’s ambition is to create innovative and sustainable solutions, partnering with leading research institutes, industrial partners, and promising start-ups in the world of food.”
In this context, Bühler said it will officially open its CUBIC innovation campus in spring and will welcome innovation partners, customers, start-ups and academics to benefit from the new facilities.
The Future Food Initiative is funded by a donation from the industrial partners with a total amount of CHF4.1 million. Its goal is to further expand research and education in the area of food and nutrition sciences at the interface of universities and enterprises.
The initiative’s objective is to accelerate the development of healthy food products which leverage consumer trends, to intensify the search for solutions for sustainable, plastic-free packaging, and to secure access to affordable nutrition.
Industrial research
The Future Food Initiative brings together competences from academic and industrial research in food and nutrition sciences at ETH Zürich and EPFL.
“We have launched this initiative to pool our expertise in research and innovation to find innovative approaches for healthy foods and a sustainable supply chain,” said Prof Dr Detlef Günther, VP for Research and Corporate Relations at the ETH Zürich.
Andreas Mortensen, VP for Research at the EPFL, concurred: "I am truly delighted that we can launch this initiative. It will create hand-in-hand partnerships for faculty of our two sister institutes of technology with partner companies of absolutely top calibre, on critical yet fun areas of research. This initiative will offer several talented young scientists a unique opportunity for their professional and intellectual growth."
For Ian Roberts, CTO of the Bühler Group, the goals of the initiative align perfectly with the company's ambition of addressing global challenges of hunger and malnutrition.
"I would like to thank the ETH Zürich and EPFL for initiating this joint platform. We are looking forward to bring on board additional partners into this initiative in the coming years. The initiative will help make Switzerland a global lighthouse for innovation across the food value chain," he concluded.