Food and beverage industry; has acquired a technological infrastructure to design, develop and analyze innovative products. The Food Innovation Center and the Turkish Food Innovation Platform (TUGIP), which are open to all companies and initiatives operating in the sector, came to life. The facility, opened by the Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank and the Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey, Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, draws attention with its advanced technology features.
TÜBİTAK MAM Food Innovation Center, which will also serve as an incubation center for entrepreneurs in the food and beverage sector within the scope of TÜBİTAK MARTEK, will improve the culture of doing business with 200 advanced technology machinery and equipment, and contribute to the development of innovative products and processes. In this way, the R&D costs of enterprises will decrease. The facility will include pilot production lines for minimally processed foods, fermented fruit products and juice, nut products, herbal extraction and tea, ready meals, seafood, starter culture and dairy products.
TÜGİP STARTED ACTIVITY
As part of Turkey's largest food R&D and innovation project INNOFOOD, the Food Innovation Center and the Turkish Food Innovation Platform (TÜGİP) were established under the leadership of TÜBİTAK. The center and platform became operational within the scope of the Competitive Sectors Program with the co-financing of the European Union and the Republic of Turkey and the support of the Ministry of Industry and Technology.
AT MAM CAMPUS
Minister Varank, who opened the Center at the Marmara Research Center (MAM) in TÜBİTAK's Gebze campus, said, “For the first time, we have succeeded in providing our country with an infrastructure with this scope and extensive opportunities for the food industry. With this facility and platform, we wish and wish that the R&D and co-development culture in the food and beverage industry will increase and value-added products will be developed.” said.
IT WILL BE THE PRODUCTION BASE
Emphasizing that it is now a necessity to increase sustainability and efficiency in food production, Varank said, "Using the opportunities offered by the new world order, we will further develop this potential and make our country a production base of the world in food production, along with all production areas." he said.
IT WILL INCREASE COMPETITIVENESS
With TÜGİP, it is aimed to increase the competitiveness of the food and beverage industry based on innovation on a regional and international scale. The platform will meet the information and infrastructure needs of the food industry in order to carry out result-oriented R&D and innovation studies together.
INCLUSIVE PERSPECTIVE
Established with the approach of “Developing Together and Succeeding Together”, TÜGİP includes all stakeholders in Turkey's food and beverage industry. TÜGİP, a communication network and clustering platform, offers holistic solutions for companies to implement their products and ideas, reduce innovation and R&D costs, and benefit from the power of cooperation.
COMPREHENSIVE R&D STUDIES
The Food Innovation Center was established in Gebze in an indoor area of 5 thousand 800 square meters under the TÜBİTAK MAM Life Sciences Food Research Vice Presidency. The center has 9 pilot-scale processing lines and an advanced food innovation laboratory for the R&D and innovation studies needed by the food industry.
AT THE SAME TIME INcubation CENTER
In the center, there are processing lines for minimally processed foods, fermented fruit products and fruit juice, nut products, herbal extraction and tea, ready meals, seafood, starter culture and dairy products equipped with 200 machines and equipment. The center also has 84 modern laboratory devices for advanced food analysis. The center was also designed as an incubation center for entrepreneurs in the food industry.
IT WILL RELAX PROCESSING LINES
The Center, which can be used by food industrialists without investing in machinery and human resources, allows new product development and product improvement activities without stopping the processing lines. With the center, businesses will be able to scale with affordable costs and quality.
SCALE ENLARGEMENT
TÜBİTAK President Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal said that they started the INNOFOOD project in 2018 under the title of Competitive Sectors Program. Expressing how they made a right start when considering the need for food that day and after the pandemic, TUBITAK President Mandal stated that the studies developed in the Food Innovation Center and the laboratory were aimed at increasing the scale for 9 different food sectors before productization, that is, before mass production.
PRE-COMPETITIVE COOPERATION
Mandal underlined that 78 TÜGİP member companies have developed a model to learn from each other and said, “We will see an example of pre-competitive cooperation here. They will learn and develop together. Another topic is that there is an incubation center that will provide offices for 40 startups. I find that very valuable.” said.
TOGETHER IS STRENGTH
TÜBİTAK MAM President Advisor and INNOFOOD Project Coordinator Assoc. Dr. Cesarettin Alasalvar stated that TÜGİP is a communication network and a clustering platform that brings together the entire food and beverage industry and said, “We opened this place to the service of the private sector with the logic that unity is stronger. We will develop new products together with the food and beverage industry. We will create added value for our country.” said. Emphasizing that large companies do not have the chance to stop their processing lines to develop innovative products, Alasalvar said, “Big companies can come here and reach the result with small trials.” he said.
WILL BE THE LOCOMOTIVE
Balparmak Chairman of the Board of Directors Özen Altıparmak stated that TÜGİP would be very beneficial for the development of the industry and start-ups and said, “We also benefited from this project. A month ago, we launched a new product, propolis throat spray. We developed it thanks to TÜGİP. We attach great importance to the cooperation between industry and TUBITAK. We also have our own R&D center. We work by pairing it with this place. TÜGİP will be a locomotive for the progress of the food industry.” said.
WILL CARRY THE INDUSTRY FURTHER
Red Crescent Beverage R&D and Quality Director Tuğba Şimşek pointed out that SMEs and large enterprises in the food sector can carry out projects in the field of sustainability and said, “This structuring will carry our sector further. As Kızılay Beverage, we plan to take part in R&D studies here.” he said.
MINIMUM TRIALS
Ak Gıda R&D Center Manager Ayşen Can mentioned that there are pilot facilities that many businesses can actively use, and said, “Large facilities like us, we carry out production trials in large tonnages. Here, we will be able to sign productive projects with minimal trials. It is not possible to try some of the things we dream of on production lines. Here, we will be able to carry out the experiment we want with 100 liters of milk.” said.
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