Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch multinational manufacturer and marketer of ice cream and many other consumer products, has announced its intention to build a new Global Foods Innovation Center in Wageningen, the Netherlands. Its Foods R&D organizations, currently based in Vlaardingen (the Netherlands), Heilbronn (Germany) and Poznan (Poland) will be co-located in the new facility, which will “house approximately 550 roles” and is expected to be fully operational by April of 2019.
“The agri-food innovation climate in the Netherlands is very strong,” said Jan Zijderveld, president of Unilever Europe. “The co-location of all elements of our Foods R&D organization within the Foods Innovation ecosystem in Wageningen will enable us to strengthen our ability to develop cutting edge foods innovations in close collaboration with the Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and a broad variety of other science institutes and startups.”
Amanda Sourry, president of Unilever Foods, added: “The Foods Innovation ecosystem in Wageningen will bring together a strong combination of in-house R&D and external science and technology, talent and facilities, increasing the impact of Unilever’s own resources and capabilities, and ultimately creating the innovative power that we need to provide leadership in foods.”
