Introduction

Design building

• Danone Nutricia Research, centre for R&D organisation supporting Early Life Nutrition and Advanced Medical Nutrition divisions of Danone Nutricia
• Main centre in Utrecht, hubs also in Singapore and Shanghai
• Located in Utrecht Science Park, Europe’s hub for Life Sciences, proximity to partners
• The official opening was in September 2013, bringing together R&D expertise from several R&D sites
• The building is a collaborative brain-child of many R&I colleagues who were heavily involved in every aspect from choosing the plot of land, to designing the spaces and overseeing the execution.
  • Building created to Unite, Inspire and Connect, to stimulate interaction and creation of ideas.
  • The various labs right in the middle of the building with offices mirrored at both sides.
  • The building was designed with lots of glass, representing and stimulating the importance of collaboration, both internally as externally (e.g. with universities and hospitals here on the Science Park). Meeting cabinets represent brain structure.
  • The building allows us to work more flexibly. No one has assigned seating. Desks and chairs are easily adaptable.

Who works here

Around 500 employees, from scientists, product technologists, engineers and many more specialists work here, representing more than 30 nationalities.

What’s happening in the labs in general

• In general, you can follow the different phases of the innovation process in the labs from the 4^th floor all the way down.4^th Floor Life Sciences Laboratory for nutritional concept creation and testing including
  • Phase 1: Exploratory Research and
  • Phase 2: Hypothesis testing and Intellectual Property
• 3^rd Floor: Our Human Milk Research Laboratory is part of the Analytical Sciences Laboratory. Human Milk is our inspiration for innovation for Early Life Nutrition.
• 3^rd Floor – Analytical Sciences Laboratory & The Nutrition Clinical Research Unit
  • Phase 3: New Product Development and Clinical Testing
  • Clinical trials are essential to our innovation process. They help us build insight and the evidence behind our products.
  • The analytical lab on the third floor is specialized in measuring and analyzing different classes of nutrients such as fat, carbohydrates, and proteins on a larger scale. They do so for preclinical as well as for clinical trials.
  • The Nutrition Clinical Research Unit (NCRU) is an exclusive facility that allows Danone Nutricia Research to conduct high standard clinical studies investigating how nutrition works in the human body.

2^nd Floor – Food Sciences and Technology Lab

• Phase 4: Product Lifecycle Management, Maintenance and Productivity
• Product Development: taking a concept and turning it into an actual product that has all the right characteristics: e.g. stability. We also analyse the composition of our products either in the middle of the production process or the final product.
• There is a strong connection to pilot plant. We make products in lab scale and then we upscale a successful recipe to the pilot plant. There is a continuous dialogue between the pilot plant and the lab.
• Process Technology:
  • Our experts are in contact with our production plants, located around the world, to investigate the impact of a new product on the existing facilities.
  • For some products, we also work with third party suppliers, who also need to produce to our precise standards.
  • We are constantly looking for the newest technologies and materials that could further improve our production processes. These improvements could mean a higher production capacity, a more efficient or more robust process or higher energy efficiency

1^st floor product display and pilot plant

• The products on the display represent the research areas in both Early Life Nutrition as well as Advanced Medical Nutrition.
• The pilot plant is a miniature factory.

Ground floor – Sensory Labs and design kitchen

• Sensory facilities: to ensure that the scientific concepts that we turn into products are not only nutritious but also appealing to our consumers / patients in terms of appearance, smell, taste and texture.
• Design Kitchen for prototyping and co-creation with HCPs, patients and Chefs.