Chinese dairy producer Yili Group showcased the depth and diversity of its product innovation during FoodBev’s World Food Innovation Awards 2023, where more than 17 of its entries either won or were highly commended by the judging panel. Here, Zhanyou Yun, vice president of Yili, tells us why innovation is at the beating heart of all the company does, and how it aims to foster relationships with industry, academia, governments and organisations to improve consumer health and meet the demands and challenges of today and tomorrow.
From Yili’s shortlisted product categories at this year’s World Food Innovation Awards, we can see that the dairy giant has a raft of innovations within its lines. Can you describe Yili’s innovation system, covering its centres, employees, investments and NPDs?
To date, Yili has established 15 innovation centres around the world, including in China, Europe, Oceania, Japan and Southeast Asia, covering the world’s leading R&D organisations in Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas. These institutions form an innovation network on a global scale.
By the end of December 2022, Yili had received a total of 3,905 patents granted at home and abroad, among which 634 are invention patents, and seven have received the ‘Chinese Award for Excellent Patents’. The patents cover a wide range of fields, including liquid milk, milk powder, yogurt, ice cream and cheese.
Yili had the opportunity to showcase the depth and diversity of its product innovation during the World Food Innovation Awards 2023. It took one top prize, ranked among the finalists for 13 awards and received commendation for three more awards under various categories, including liquid milk, milk powder, yogurt and ice cream. This recognition could not have been achieved without the efficient synergies produced by Yili’s global innovation efforts and the joint endeavours of its innovative global talent.
Some of Yili’s award-winning products
Could you tell us more about the establishment of these overseas R&D innovation centres and their innovation cooperation?
The Yili European Innovation Centre is based at Wageningen University, Europe’s top university in the field of life sciences. Yili has carried out innovation cooperation with more than 15,000 researchers at Europe’s ‘Food Valley,’ International Life Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Groningen, Technical University of Munich, German Institute of Food Technology, Teagasc and other universities and scientific research institutions, as well as partners. This research covers the areas of life sciences, nutrition and health, food safety, and technology R&D, with the aim of realising comprehensive exploration of the latest cutting-edge technologies in the field of healthcare food.
Experts at Yili’s European Innovation Centre Europe
Yili has signed an agreement to partner with StartLife, a specialised investor based in the Netherlands, in the field of food and agrotechnology. Yili is also joining the Open Innovation Forum, an industry network for food and FMCG companies at the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), which is part of the University of Cambridge.
Yili partners with the agrifoodtech accelerator StartLife
Yili established its Oceania Innovation Centre in New Zealand and entered into a strategic partnership with Lincoln University to engage in innovation and research throughout the dairy industry’s entire ecosystem. In recent years, Yili’s Oceania Innovation Centre has forged strong partnerships with the New Zealand Food Safety Science & Research Centre (NZFSSRC), AgResearch and the University of Otago.
The Group has adopted a unique business model – focused on empowering local headquarters, leveraging global collaborations and ensuring a high degree of localisation. In 2020, Yili’s Japan Innovation Centre was launched to strengthen cooperation and exchanges with Japanese research institutions and technology companies, and carry out research and innovation projects with local institutions, universities and government-sponsored associations.
In 2021, Yili’s Southeast Asia Innovation Centre was established. As a platform designed to facilitate cooperation on innovation with universities and R&D institutions throughout the region, the Centre will work with Yili’s China, Europe, Oceania and Japan Innovation Centres to roll out more localised innovations that are carefully tailored to fulfil consumer needs.
Yili research laboratory
What elements form the foundation of Yili’s innovation efforts? How does the company ensure that its products are well-received by consumers?
Yili always adheres to the principle of ‘no innovation, no future’. As a consumer-oriented company, it is committed to developing healthy products that meet the full-lifecycle, all-scenario needs of all types of Chinese consumers.
As living standards improve, more consumers are seeking personalised and diversified products. Yili has acquired and leveraged unique market insights based upon big data, accumulated from more than 5 million sales outlets and 1 billion consumers, as well as information provided by a huge number of partners, in order to accelerate the upgrading and innovation of its products.
Yili proactively utilises digital tools to establish models and big data systems. At present, the company has established a range of online information and data platforms, such as the big data radar platform, product lifecycle management system, technical standards and regulations database, and big data-driven early warning platform for global food safety.
Yili production lines
To meet the growing demands of consumers, Yili continues to focus on making breakthroughs in food science and technology and improving the quality of its products. Recent examples of Yili’s technological advances include the following:
In addition, the ultrafiltration technology is integrated and innovated, through which key components such as protein, calcium and fat are reorganised and optimised to increase the concentration of protein and calcium in the original raw milk, providing consumers with science-based nutritional supplements.
The National Center of Technology Innovation for Dairy in Yili Modern Intelligent Health Valley
Does Yili have any other innovative plans for dairy products and healthy foods?
Yili is highly active in the dairy market and confident about its ability to maintain a leading position across all categories, including liquid milk, milk powder, yogurt, ice cream, cheese, and more. Beyond its core dairy sector, the company is continuously evolving its product portfolio and entering new business lines, such as mineral water, plant-based beverages and lactic acid bacteria drinks, with the aim of meeting consumers’ diversifying needs. Yili’s products aim to bring nutrients and health benefits to all age groups as they go about their daily lives.
The Group strives to develop patented technologies of core probiotics with its own independent intellectual property rights and has launched a new probiotic health solution brand, Quanjiayi. It has finished the R&D of four flagship probiotic strains and realised their functions, namely, the BL-99 strain for intestinal health, K56 strain for weight management, ET-22 strain for oral health and YLGB-1496 for the health of infants. These technologies have been commercialised in product series such as Changyi 100%, Yixiao, Cheese Bar, Xujinhuan ice cream and the BL-99 solid beverage. Looking forward, Yili will take advantage of its global innovation network to expand the Chinese probiotic strain pool and develop more functional strains.
BL-99 solid beverage
How are Yili’s product innovations contributing to the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs)?
To date, Yili has launched five net zero-carbon products through its full-lifecycle carbon reduction actions, including two net zero-carbon milks, net zero-carbon yogurt, net zero-carbon organic milk powder and net zero-carbon ice cream.
Yili continues developing its sustainable packaging technologies to improve recyclability and reduce carbon emissions. The use of polyolefin-only packaging, microfoam protective packaging, barrier PET packaging and other packaging solutions, as well as the directing melting PET materials for dairy products, have enabled the replacement of environmentally-unfriendly packaging materials and high recycling performance of packages after consumption.
Satine’s No Printing No Ink Environment-friendly Edition won ‘Best Packaging Design’ at FoodBev’s World Food Innovation Awards this year. The inner package is designed in pure white without traditional ink printing and information such as the product name and production date is laser-printed. It uses FSC-certified green packaging materials to help protect the forest ecosystem. Part of the raw material of the cap comes from sugar cane. The outer box uses paper carrying handles to reduce the use of plastic. Every 100,000 outer boxes save approximately 260kg of plastic.
Satine No Printing No Ink Environment-friendly Edition
In addition, as food is closely related to human health, a sustainable, secure and healthy food industry will contribute to the UN’s SDGs. To help achieve SDG 3 on health and nutrition, Yili has carried out academic research and technology development projects aimed at offering customised dairy products that satisfy the nutrition and health needs of different consumer segments, with the goal of fuelling a healthier population.
For example, Yili has been conducting research on the breast milk of Chinese mothers for 21 years and operating the first breast milk database among China’s dairy companies. The Group’s vast research data have established a strong foundation for the development of infant formula milk powder. Furthermore, with support from the Chinese Red Cross Foundation, Yili has launched the Yili Nutrition 2030 public welfare programme, which focuses on ensuring that children can stay healthy and always pursue their dreams and aims to contribute to China’s rural revitalisation strategy and the Healthy China initiative.
What key trends do you see now in the healthy food sector?
Low sugar, high protein: As obesity, diabetes, and other health problems are becoming increasingly serious, demand is growing for healthy and low-sugar food and beverages. High-protein products have gone beyond being a choice just for sports enthusiasts and emerged as a mainstream offering. Consumer demand for high-protein foods is expected to continue increasing.
Functionality: During the Covid-19 pandemic, natural and high-protein products became a favourite among consumers. People have been moving away from products with more sugar, fat and salt towards functional dairy products. An ageing population has also driven the growth of nutrition solutions that can meet the elderly’s needs around healthy ageing.
Transparency and sustainability: The consumer-driven trend towards ‘clean labels’ will also continue as consumers demand greater transparency about the procurement of ingredients and hope to buy eco-friendly products. Meanwhile, the demand for natural and organic products is set to continue growing. In addition, as concerns about carbon emissions continue to rise, the conservation and efficient utilisation of water resources has also become an important topic in sustainable global development.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024
