“Changes can be a threat or an opportunity.”

Dr Charis M Galankis 

Defining innovation is not easy; however, it will always imply a change in how things are done aiming at improving them.

Innovation es both a process and a result which entails the adoption of new products and processes, the entry to new markets, and the inclusion of renewed organizational approaches.

The food and beverages industry is a mature business area with slow growth, and quite conservative regarding the different innovations it introduces to the market. Regardless its particular characteristics and important difficulties–intellectual property protection for recipes, for instance–, the technological rhythm with which the industry is moving forward in terms of innovation is ever increasing.

For a long time, the big food manufacturers had focused on increasing their production capacity and cut down costs. However, the increase in the demand of healthy foods, changes in food chain supply, and increasing competition, make innovation not only an inevitable corporate action but also a growing key element for general profitability of agribusinesses (Galankis, 2016).

Nowadays, food companies are motivated to innovate for different reasons:

• Improve Quality
• Expand Product and Services Portfolio
• Develop Flexible Production Processes
• Increase Market Share
• Reduce Labor Costs
• Improve Health and Safety

Based on these trends, the food industry is before challenges that cannot be dealt with with the current state of the sector regarding organization, technology, cooperation, and communication. 

According to L.L. Losada Rojas (2021), some of the main challenges are: 

• Ensuring Food Safety and Security
• Respecting Environmental and Social Concerns of Society, Aiming At Sustainability
• Permanent Population Increase, Mostly in Cities
• Ever Growing Demand for Diets With Greater Value but With Limitations and Reduction of Resources Available 
• Appointed Responsibilities to the Food Industry by Society

Likewise, a better understanding of the roles to be played by the academy and industry would contribute to the creation of agile systems to address key challenges in research and practice that will make possible an effective knowledge transfer towards innovation.

“Innovations that improve nutritional quality of products and make them more convenient are generally accepted as long as they do not have a negative impact on sensory quality.”

Guiné et al. (2021)

Written by Jesús Alberto Quezada Gallo

Lecturer and Researcher

Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México