Page 25 - Food&Drink Magazine Aug-Sep 2021

ingredients into the mix
INGREDIENTS
hemp can be a significant barrier, especially if you’re not familiar with the food manufacturing supply chain or the range of private and public investment options and incentives available in Australia and overseas.
Support from experienced commercialisation practitioners helped Progel and Nourish Ingredients secure the right financial partners.
Collaboration with research organisations can triple business productivity growth, and greater government support for such collaborations, especially with SMEs, is opening up new funding opportunities. The hemp industry is working with researchers (and together) on a number of production and processing initiatives to help grow the industry.
To attract investment or be eligible for grants requires innovators to present a clear business model – how the product will make money, connect with customers, join a supply chain, and cover costs.
Often, the financial input and effort focussed on technical tweaking comes at the expense of commercial development, slowing the journey to market. These need to be parallel processes.
The complexity of commercialisation is another reason commercial aspects of a new ingredient’s development are neglected.
From technical requirements to legal and food safety aspects, which may not yet be defined, it’s a minefield for both new and seasoned players.
But there are tools to navigate the potential obstacles.
Strategyzer’s business model canvas is popular.
We also use the business modelling method developed at the University of St Gallen (Switzerland), the Commercial Readiness Assessment (CRA)
and the Commercialisation Navigator (CNav) for objective, evidence-based benchmarking and
action planning. These tools help de-risk a new food
concept before seeking further financial resources because they address assumptions about its impact on the existing market.
While technical testing considers factors like cooking properties and mouth feel, business modelling turns assumptions into truths by investigating, “How will this fit in with current supply chains and what’s the continuity
of supply likely to be?” and, “Can it be manufactured
at scale now or will new equipment/tech be required?”
Ideas for new ingredients crop up all the time, but very few will make it to market. To improve its chances the next time one flows into your innovation pipeline, ask questions before assembling the marketing machine, such as:
• What’s the awesome
improvement?
• What existing challenge does
it address?
• Who will use it and why? • What are the barriers and
how could they be overcome? • What tools will find the
gaps in the thinking and
reveal the unknowns? • And who can help us
turn this innovative idea into a commercially valuable ingredient? ✷
✷ ABOUTTHEAUTHOR
FAR LEFT: Hemp is on the rise as an ingredient. LEFT: Precision fermentation is gaining momentum.
ABOVE: Technology is allowing foods to maintain nutritional benefits all the way to the gut.
Rapid Results.
Real Answers Sooner.
Products to ensure food safety;
For more information please contact us on (02) 9882 3666 or at orders@amsl.com.au
amsl.com.au
Brian Ruddle is
managing director of
Impact Innovation Group.
He is also chair of the
AgriFutures Australia
Emerging Industries
Panel and the Innovation Management Standards Committee (MB-279) for Standards Australia.
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | August/September 2021 | Food&Drink business | 25