Nestlé drives nutrition innovation through global university and startup partnerships

Nestlé Health Science has announced a series of global partnerships with academic institutions and startups to fast-track innovation in nutrition and health, focusing on women’s health, healthy longevity and weight management.

The company has entered a strategic partnership with the University of California, Davis Innovation Institute for Food & Health (IIFH) to advance nutrition-based solutions and startup development. Through this partnership, the company will work to identify and bring to market nutrition-based solutions that address areas such as women’s health, healthy longevity and weight management. Nestlé Health Science and UC Davis will also explore opportunities for collaborative research and student engagement.

In Australia, Nestlé Health Science is partnering with Australian Catholic University (ACU) in Melbourne to accelerate early-stage innovation through its incubator programme. The initiative will support startups focused on women’s health, longevity and weight management, and offer mentoring and research collaboration opportunities for students.

These partnerships expand Nestlé’s open innovation approach, combining academic expertise, entrepreneurial thinking and the company’s global R&D capabilities to address emerging health needs.

Nestlé Health Science has also launched the third edition of its Innovation Challenge with the Food & Nutrition Innovation Institute at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. This year’s challenge focuses on the intersection between women’s health and healthy ageing, with winners set to receive development support from both Nestlé Health Science and Tufts University.

Encouraging new solutions in health science

“We want to encourage new solutions in health science through working directly with individuals who have brilliant ideas and could use professional guidance to develop them,” said Hans Manning, Vice President of Innovation & Strategy at Nestlé Health Science’s R&D centre in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

He added: “The strategic partnerships with the universities allow us to work with entrepreneurs to help them bring highly differentiated products to the market in three key areas: women’s health; healthy longevity; and weight management. The ultimate aim is to provide science-based, groundbreaking nutritional solutions to advance the health status of consumers and patients.”

These initiatives reinforce Nestlé’s ongoing commitment to advancing science-backed nutrition, including innovations such as a unique blend of bioactive nutrients for muscle recovery under the Pure Encapsulations brand and Boost products designed to support weight management.