Novel ways to confer sensation of sweetness
Center name: АНО "ИЦК"
Center site: http://ick.ru/
Date of creation: 07/12/2018
Description of the offer: The UK arm of an international manufacturer of non-alcoholic beverages is searching for totally novel enabling technologies to increase the sensation of sweetness in its products, with minimum/zero added calories. The company’s drinks are often carbonated, and are packaged and delivered in a variety of ways, including in bottles, cans, cartons and via vending dispensers (using high concentration syrups) in retail. The company has been actively working on reducing the sugar content of its beverages for some years, both through the introduction of various sweeteners and recipe formulation, but is now looking for a solution that improves the perception of sweetness in a truly innovative way. The company is open to various propositions, the technology could be physical, chemical or digital, or activating or enhancing the natural sweetness of ingredients. Early stage developments will be considered with a view to long term partnership. The company has resources for both further development and market launch. The company’s products are sold in volume worldwide, thereby providing an excellent route to accelerate the introduction of a new innovation into this market. Also, they have manufacturing and supply chain partnerships for solutions not amenable for in-house manufacturing. The company has excellent relationships with global ingredient suppliers, and is aware of the commercially available ingredients used to achieve sugar reduction in beverages. They are therefore interested in the next phase of sugar reduction, from researchers and innovators in this space, with a preference for natural ingredient solutions. The above list is not meant to be exclusive and equally, the Technical Specification. Interested parties are encouraged to send a brief non-confidential description of their proposal(s). The company doesn't want to prescribe the type of cooperation very strictly. Dependent on the stage of development of proposals, and availability of IP, the cooperation may include licensing of IP, or further joint development under technical cooperation. In case a proposal is mature enough for quick adoption, the co-operation could be a commercial agreement with technical assistance.
Market Keywords: 07003003 Soft drinks and bottling plants
Profile type: Technology request
Summary: A large UK manufacturer of soft drinks is searching for completely novel ways of giving drinks sweetness whilst being natural and low calories. Innovation is also sought in the field of consumer acceptance and perception. Industry and academia developing such solutions, including those in early stage, are sought for technical cooperation, licensing, and commercial agreements with technical assistance.
Technological Keywords: 08001001 Drink Technology / 08001002 Food Additives/Ingredients/Functional Food / 08001004 Food Processing
Type and Role of Partner Sought: Type of partner sought: industry and academia - Specific area of activity of the partner: research into sugars and sensory reception of sweetness. Also, research and products in the field of consumer acceptance. - Task to be performed by the partner sought: industry and academia are invited to send non-confidential descriptions of their proposals. Non-ingredient technologies • Digital and electronic technologies to drive a physical sensation or reaction in the mouth; • Packaging innovations/changes to the way the user consumes a drink; • Horticultural innovations - e.g. maintain sweetness properties after harvest or improve the yield of non-economic sweet compounds; • Innovations regarding consumer acceptance, product labelling, etc. Ingredient and recipe-based technologies • Volatile-enhanced sweetness - expertise, modelling and supply of solutions are all of interest; • Chemosensory - targeted delivery to taste receptors and activation with non-sugar compounds; • Physical modification of sugar compounds - e.g. altering molecular structure, delivery mechanism; • Enhance and maximise the sweetening potential of natural compounds; • Recipe formulation - e.g. innovative bitter reduction technologies or processing steps; • Solutions used for solid food products with proof of concept for application in beverages; • Solutions that enable clean and natural product labelling.
Type of Partnership Required: License Agreement / Commercial agreement with technical assistance / Technical cooperation agreement