Dupont Nutrition and Biosciences has expanded its partnership with Plug and Play, a tech company that originally partnered with Dupont for a food and beverage program in Silicon Valley, California.
 
In 2021, Plug and Play will open a new location in Chicago, and DuPont will be a founding partner of the new office with direct access to the emerging technologies which will allow for future innovation by food and beverage companies.
 
The source of these new technologies involves talented entrepreneurial startups, which seek support from larger corporate partners for purposes of business development and scaling. As an investor and mentor, DuPont will both accelerate the development of these startups, and bring finished technologies to market at a faster pace, the company said.
 
“In recent years, in particular, we have seen how disruptive change can take the established food industry by surprise,” Birgitte Borch, global marketing leader of food and beverage at DuPont Nutrition and Biosciences, said. “Plant-based meat and dairy offerings have proliferated, fueled by new innovations driven by start-ups that are closing the gaps with traditional products.”
 
“Through our partnership with Plug and Play, we were able to influence the technology focus and tap into enterprising start-ups, bringing the latest innovative technology in plant-based proteins, functional ingredients, and consumer testing. AS a founding partner of their program in Chicago, we will be able to expand our focus into innovative technologies in biotechnology, personalized nutrition, food safety, functional ingredients, sustainability, and market analytics,” Borch continued.
 
Plug and Play was an early investor of Google, PayPal, and DropBox, and, today, it operates more than 60 accelerator programs worldwide. In 2019, the corporation supported in excess of 1,450 start-ups. Its food and beverage program was launched in 2017.
 
“We use our trend insights and market forecasts to identify the technologies that will be business critical to the food industry moving forward. Plug and Play’s then provides a shortlist of promising enterprises within those technology areas. The most promising candidates are invited to pitch their technologies to our business and technology teams, and discussions about potential collaboration will begin,” Borch said.
 
The shortlist of start-ups for 2021 has already been drawn up, DuPont said in their announcement. By the middle of next year, DuPont’s Nutrition and Biosciences Food and Beverage program anticipates that it will have open innovation agreements in place.