Nestlé has inaugurated its new R&D Accelerator to drive innovation of sustainable dairy products and plant-based dairy alternatives.

Located at Nestlé’s R&D centre in Konolfingen, Switzerland, the R&D Accelerator provides a platform for start-ups, students and scientists to leverage its dairy and plant protein expertise to quickly bring products from ideation to commercialization.

“Innovation in milk products and plant-based dairy alternatives is core to Nestlé’s portfolio strategy, as well as our sustainability agenda,” said Mark Schneider, Nestlé CEO, at the inauguration.

“As a company, we have set ambitious climate goals. This is part of our promise to develop products that are good for you and good for the planet.”

The R&D Accelerator features a fully equipped test kitchen, as well as a co-working office space. Internal, external and mixed teams will leverage Nestlé’s capabilities to bring novel ideas from concept to test shop in only six months.

They will have access to Nestlé expertise and key equipment such as small to medium scale production equipment to facilitate the rapid upscaling of products for a test launch in a retail environment.

“Our goal is to provide start-ups, students and Nestlé scientists with key resources to quickly explore new ideas through a 6-month test and learn approach,” said Thomas Hauser, Head of Global Product and Technology Development at Nestlé.

“By tapping into our expertise in food science, food safety, regulatory, manufacturing processes, and packaging, they can rapidly upscale and test new products in real market conditions.”