Nestle to Open R&D Accelerator Site in SwitzerlandNestle to Open R&D Accelerator Site in Switzerland
April 17, 2019

Food and beverage giant Nestle plans to open a new R&D Accelerator facility in Lausanne, Switzerland that will foster collaboration between internal and external stakeholders on new innovative products and systems, a company release announced this month.
Located at the company’s Nestle Research site in Lausanne, Nestle scientists, students, and start-ups will use shared labs, kitchens, bench-scale and pilot-scale equipment at the facility. Research teams will be able to use “hot desks” in the building for a period of time.
“We have taken a number of steps to accelerate innovation, including our enhanced prototyping capabilities and funding of fast-track projects. With the Nestle R&D Accelerator and its proximity to our R&D and business teams, we will bring open innovation to a new level,” said the firm’s chief technology officer, Stefan Palzer, in a statement. “Combining our internal expertise and the deep knowledge of our academic and industrial partners with the external entrepreneurial creativity is a unique approach and will create an innovation power-house.”
Nestle’s R&D Accelerator site will be a part of the company’s global R&D network, which includes the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and Zurich (ETHZ) and the Swiss Hospitality Management School in Lausanne (EHL).
“The business potential of such a project is enormous. Nestle’s initiative embodies what we consider a key factor for innovation: connecting the talents of our academic institutions and the entrepreneurial, disruptive spirit of start-ups around the expertise of the research center dedicated to the growth of a big company,” said Philippe Leuba, state councilor of the Swiss Canton of Vaud, in the release.
Teams have been selected to work in the facility when it becomes operational by late 2019. Nestle’s food and nutrition R&D organization is the largest in the world, according to the company, employing some 4200 workers across its footprint of 23 facilities.
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