Nestlé has announced, together with partners, the launch of the Future Food Initiative, a joint research program between Swiss universities and industrial partners. The initiative will support Nestlé in the development of trend-based, tasty, nutritious and sustainable food and beverage products.

The Future Food Initiative brings together Swiss academic and industrial partners leading in nutritional science and food technology, including ETH Zurich, the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), as well as Swiss companies Nestlé, Bühler and Givaudan. .

The initiative encourages food and nutrition research in areas relevant to consumer trends and sustainability, and it includes a postdoctoral fellowship program to promote young scientists. The first research projects will focus on plant-based nutrition and ancient plant varieties. .

Stefan Palzer, CTO of Nestlé S.A. said, "We accelerate innovation in collaboration with a variety of external partners, including world-class academia, globally leading suppliers and creative start-ups across the world. To address open scientific questions and challenges related to food trends and sustainable nutrition is key for us as we create tasty and nutritious food for all age groups. As one of the initiators of this important Swiss research initiative, we reaffirm our commitment to further strengthen the unique Swiss research ecosystem for food and nutrition research." .

A significant part of Nestlé’s global R&D organization is located in Switzerland, including Nestlé Research. Nestlé Research employs about 800 people in Lausanne, wher it combines fundamental science with high-end analytical platforms and strong prototyping capabilities to accelerate the translation of science into innovation. In 2017, Nestlé made an R&D investment of around CHF 1 billion in Switzerland, which corresponds to about 58% of the total Nestlé R&D investment worldwide.