Givaudan has launched MISTA, an innovation platform for the food industry.
Described by the company as “encompassing more than an incubator or an accelerator,” MISTA is an “optimizer” which enables start-ups and established businesses alike to optimize ideas, products, people and investments.
MISTA will open a physical space, located in San Francisco, in early 209. The 7,000 square foot space, known as the MISTA Optimisation Center (MOC) will include a product development facility, equipment for pasteurization and fermentation, experts offering market and leadership development strategies and input from culinary and food scientists.
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The optimizer helps companies devise innovative solutions to challenges in the food and beverage industry, including scaling up, distribution, building a team and searching for partners.
Along with Givaudan, founding members include Danone, Mars Inc. and Ingredion Inc., along with a number of strategic partners with capabilities from across the food industry, creating an integrated innovation platform. The team aims to target 20 start-ups to bring into the platform within the first year; roughly 10 of these will be located on-site at the San Francisco headquarters.
MISTA is one of the initiatives launched by Givaudan aimed at building a more collaborative, inclusive approach to innovation, part of the Partnering for Shared Success pillar of its 2020 strategy.
“MISTA, which means ‘tasty morsel’ in Sanskrit, is all about the creation of a new business model focused on product innovation and development for the food industry, with the intention and capabilities to create the future of food,” said Scott May, vice president of innovation at Givaudan and head of MISTA. “Today’s food systems are so complex, and the challenges so large that no single company can address them alone, and that’s where the concept of MISTA really comes to life.”
