Thai Union has officially opened its Innovation Hub in Wageningen, Netherlands. This latest expansion of its global innovation network focuses on product and packaging innovation for the group’s ambient seafood brands.
Around 40 product, process and packaging developers, nutritionists, sensory and consumer scientists and innovators are working at or for the Innovation Hub, collaborating closely with Thai Union’s brands and the Global Innovation Centre (GIC) in Bangkok.
“With the Innovation Hub here in the Netherlands, we are strengthening our global innovation capabilities. Our GIC in Thailand focuses on fundamental research, especially on utilising and valorising our raw material. This work directly benefits our Innovation Hub in Wageningen, where we can quickly respond to the pulse of our markets through collaboration with our brands, our customers, and our consumers. Alongside our SeaChange 2030 sustainability strategy, innovation will be our key differentiator to revitalise our products in our markets,” Thai Union Group CEO and President Thiraphong Chansiri.
Patrick Tassignon, Senior Innovation Director Ambient Seafood, said that Wageningen was strategically chosen for its excellence in food science and nutrition.
“By partnering with Wageningen University & Research, start-ups, and other companies, we aim to embrace their knowledge and innovative spirit. This environment will inspire us to create groundbreaking innovations, driving our ambition to become the world’s leading marine health and nutrition company,” he said.
Professor Ellen Kampman, Chair holder Nutrition & Disease at Wageningen University & Research, added: “Being able to collaborate with Wageningen University & Research, Europe’s no 1 university in nutrition and food science has attracted many multinational food companies to establish innovation centres here. Thai Union as one of the world’s major seafood companies adds a marine protein element to the ecosystem of Wageningen – and we look forward to collaborative research with them. Welcome to Wageningen.”
The Innovation Hub’s key features include:
- A pilot plant forming the core of the Innovation Hub. It replicates the capabilities of a full-scale Thai Union factory, offering flexibility to install new innovative equipment and enabling the team to design, trial and test food concepts
- An analytical lab equipped with high-precision tools for physical and chemical testing to validate the safety and quality of Thai Union’s products
- A packaging lab for concept development, prototyping and testing of materials and functionality
- A sensory lab with sensory booths, designed with controlled lighting and ventilation, for Thai Union’s development teams to evaluate how consumers perceive and respond to products and innovations
- A user experience kitchen welcomes consumers and evaluates how they experience products and innovations. It will also host co-creation sessions with culinary chefs, customers and brands as well as serve as a dynamic environment for food prototyping
Thai Union said that several product innovation projects that were conceived or finalised in the Innovation Hub are already entering key markets, such as John West’s ECOTWIST in the United Kingdom, which packs the same amount of tuna into a redesigned and lighter can, saving over 400 tonnes of steel, 1,500 tonnes of ingredients that consumers typically don’t use, and avoiding around 65 tonnes of plastic shrink wrap or 300 tonnes of cardboard each year.
