The Nestlé global board delegation led by its chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, visited the CSIR campus in Pretoria in September 2013 to get a first-hand impression of the CSIR campus including its scientific and industrial capabilities. The visit was hosted by the CSIR Group Strategic Partnerships office in conjunction with CSIR Biosciences.
Dr Rachel Chikwamba, CSIR Group Executive Strategic Alliances and Communication, indicated said: “The Nestlé board wanted to use this visit to share progress on the framework collaboration agreement between their organisation and the CSIR and to allow for the demonstration of Nestlé’s external R&D collaboration strategy as implemented in South Africa.”
Left to right: Dr Rachel Chikwamba (CSIR), Imraan, Paul Bulcke (Nestlé CEO), Dr Vinesh Maharaj (CSIR) during the Nestlé board visit to the CSIR.
The visit follows the signing a of ground-breaking research partnership in March 2012. The partnership is aimed at contributing to various research and development work based on indigenous South African biodiversity to evaluate the potential use of novel ingredients in their products that have known health benefits and later on research the nutraceutical potential to proof additional health benefits .
This visit also afforded the Nestlé board a platform to review and engage on the progress made between the organisations since the signing of the NRC/CSIR/ARC framework agreement in March 2012, and to also initiate discussions on further linkages in the sphere of innovation and technology transfer.
Dr Gerda Botha, Business Area Leader, Natural Products and Agroprocessing had this to say about the visit: “Collaborating with a large multinational such as Nestle on a join project opens up new avenues to launch products for consumers from the research done here. The collaboration covers the complete value chain whereas, ARC focuses on the production/supply chain research needs, CSIR optimise the transformation of the plant material into stable ingredients, while Nestle focuses on the consumer needs and application technology.”
“The partnership is meant to provide CSIR scientists with access to international technologies in the field of food ingredients and give industry’s research perspective to demonstrated health benefits in novel ingredients. This includes training and the donation of equipment that can do bio-accessibility evaluation of nutrients (mimicking part of the human digestive system) for the first time in South Africa, said Dr Botha.
Left to right: Dr Gerda Botha (CSIR), Peter Brabeck (Nestlé Chairman of the Board of Directors), Luis Cantarell (CEO of Nestlé Nutrition) visit exhibition stands
Dr Daniel Visser, Acting Executive Director, CSIR Biosciences said: “The visit will also enhance our capacity to better understand industry development cycles and requirements for the commercialisation of such products. In addition, this will add value to our indigenous resources through exposure to modern technologies in developing new food-based products. New products developed through this collaboration will be manufactured in South Africa in compliance with international standards, leading to development of new skills and ultimately creation of new jobs in the Food Industry.”
News contributed by Sibusiso Ralarala , CSIR Strategic Communication
