Kraft applauds government commitment to food innovation

Kraft Foods’ President has applauded the federal government for taking the first step towards establishing a coordinated and sustainable Food Innovation Precinct to boost the Australian food manufacturing industry and capture the Asian market.

Rebecca Dee-Bradbury, who represented the food industry on the Prime Minister’s Manufacturing Taskforce, said that she was pleased the taskforce’s recommendations were accepted and acted on so swiftly through the Industry and Innovation statement.

“We have a great opportunity to align our innovation and marketing assets through strategic, coordinated and targeted collaborations,” Dee‐Bradbury said.

“Through the taskforce, the food industry sent a clear message to decision-makers that we needed government support and public policy that promotes a focus on right-to-win industries, so it’s pleasing to see today’s commitment.

“As a nation, we will only win on a world stage through focus, and food manufacturing is an industry we can win in. We have 1.6 billion consumers at our doorstep who value Australian food and Australian brands, so we must capitalise on this and set Australia up for success. Demand is increasing and the opportunities are significant.”

Kraft Foods has recently established an innovation centre in Victoria, following the company’s largest-ever investment in new technologies and innovation at the Asia Pacific Chocolate and Confectionery Centre of Excellence

“Our centre will complement the Food Innovation Precinct but it is just the start; what we need are clusters formed by industry, higher education, CSIRO and chains of SMEs, collaborating in hubs,” Dee-Bradbury said.

“But for the many opportunities too big to solve alone, these hubs then need to come together through a coordinated network, and we need to explore opportunities to innovate with companies we may have never worked with before.

“We know from overseas models that innovation works best when there are hubs connected in a network and we have a density of innovators and a collision of ideas. We have seen the success of the German Fraunhofer Institute, Korean Telecommunications and US software innovation models.

“We also know that innovation accelerates when industry plays a leading role, so what an exciting future we have ahead as we work with the government to create a precinct that is balanced towards industry participation, right here in Australia.”