COPENHAGEN, Denmark– DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences (DuPont) has taken another step in advancing innovation in the food industry through a new partnership between its Food & Beverage platform and the Institute for the Future (IFTF), the world’s leading futures organization. The collaboration seeks to drive far-sighted food and beverage innovation that anticipates shifts in market needs.
Today, food manufacturers are already relying on DuPont’s trend-tracking capabilities to inspire and enable new product development. By partnering with the IFTF, DuPont aims to sharpen the ability to co-create innovation with customers and build on long-term forecasts that look at ten years and beyond.
Foresights for stronger brands
Birgitte Borch, global marketing leader, Food & Beverage, DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences explains how the well-researched foresight of IFTF will support stronger food brands.
“Short-term product development strategies are common in the food industry, where consumer demands constantly change. It’s not unusual that new food and beverage launches are a knee-jerk reaction to a trend that appears out of the blue,” Borch said.
“Along with IFTF, we will be looking into trend development beyond consumer behaviors and developing strategic foresight with scenarios that impact the food industry in the short term 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,
Disruptive megatrends in food
IFTF has an impressive 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.
IFTF’s research anticipates four disruptive megatrends over the next decade in the food industry.
“Through our partnership with IFTF, we can better understand how these trends will evolve in the future,” Borch said. “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.”
