This, the company says, is the latest example of Givaudan’s strategy to enable the development of real-world applications for disruptive ideas and breakthrough technologies to deliver superior and sustainable solutions for the food industry.

StartLife, which is based on the campus of Wageningen University & Research will be Givaudan’s innovation and scouting partner. The organisation will support Givaudan to further expand its innovation ecosystem by acting as a connector and early start-up innovation enabler with Dutch-based food entrepreneurs.

Givaudan’s Head of Science & Technology, Flavours, Fabio Campanile, said: “Givaudan’s Front End Innovation Ecosystem is constantly evolving as new ‘hot spots’ of activity emerge. The Netherlands and Wageningen is clearly an emerging place for foodtech, and this is wher we want to build mutually beneficial collaborations.”

“Our partnership with StartLife forms part of our wider commitment to address global food challenges through collaboration and innovation. We are engaging with top universities with strong research capabilities and with the ability to commercialise intellectual property. Partnering with StartLife enables us to engage with the reseach and emerging start-up mentality on the Wageningen campus, which is becoming a centre of co-innovation for The Netherlands. We offer them technological and scale up know-how and market access facilities which can only boost their chance of success.”

StartLife’s mission is to foster entrepreneurship in food and agtech by supporting entrepreneurs and their teams as they build their business ideas into global enterprises with a lasting impact.

Jan Meiling, Managing Director of StartLife, said: “We currently work with over 300 start-up enterprises and believe they are the propelling force behind the food and agtech innovations required to meet global food demand in the future. Our partnership with Givaudan will provide start-ups with access to a wealth of food science knowledge and expertise to help them navigate challenges in their product development journeys.”