Symrise opens Asia-Pacific innovation & technology centre in Singapore

Innovation-centric expansion to boost regional and local food manufacturing capabilities

Last Updated : May 25 2017 | 2:50 PM IST

Symrise AG, the German flavours and fragrances specialist, has opened its new Asia-Pacific flavour innovation and technology centre, marking the completion of the company’s over € 30 million expansion of its regional headquarters in Singapore. The centre aims to boost local food manufacturing capabilities and to contribute to Singapore‘s vision of becoming Asia’s regional food & nutrition hub.

“Asia is fast becoming one of the main global sources of influence and inspiration for innovative food products. And major centres for business, lifestyle, technology, health and nutrition like Singapore will be at the heart of this megatrend. Similarly, Singapore will continue to be within the heart of our growth story and I believe the new research and innovation facilities will ignite greater collaboration, connectivity and creativity among industry stakeholders. That will further develop Singapore’s food research and manufacturing industry capabilities,” said Dr Heinz-Jurgen Bertram, chief executive officer of Symrise AG.

The centre houses several facilities that have been designed in accordance with Symrise’s R&D strategy which focuses on connecting megatrends, consumer needs, customer requirements, sustainability, innovation and cost efficiency.

“Recognising that Asian consumer tastes are the future drivers of the global flavour industry, I am pleased to announce that Symrise will be the first major firm to base its global sensory and consumer insight function and teams in Asia. This emphasises both, our commitment to Asia, and forming the foundation of our future innovations research, technology and development,” added Lionel Flutto, president, flavour, Asia Pacific, Symrise.

The flavour innovation and technology centre is the latest Symrise initiative to help food manufacturing, FMCG, nutritional supplement and pharmaceutical companies gain insights into the tastes and preferences of Asia’s increasingly influential consumers. Research and technology capabilities will be applied to discover new flavour compounds, create new natural and sustainable products that meet the preferences and cultural requirements of Asian consumers and to demonstrate how these new products can be applied in shelf-stable manufactured foods. This research will be applied to develop both, food flavour innovation for customers in Asia, and also to support innovation-driven projects for key global customers.

The next phase in the expansion and enhancement of Symrise regional operations here in Singapore will focus on the expansion and restructuring of scent and care (S&C) innovation, creation, oral care, life essentials and aroma molecules. The expansion will allow for the establishment of a new S&C consumer insights centre. This centre will enable S&C to develop deeper market understanding, in order to create commercially effective branding campaigns, which is one of S&C’s core competencies.