Innovation has always been an integral part of Avebe’s strategy. Since the 28th of September 2018 everybody can witness how seriously Avebe takes this ambition. On that day, René Paas, commissioner of the province of Groningen, officially opened the Avebe Innovation Centre on the Zernike Campus in Groningen.
The Avebe Innovation Centre was built by construction consortium BAM/Trebbe on behalf of project developer Triade. The building is a complete innovation centre, including a laboratory, a test facility, offices and a customer innovation centre. Avebe has moved all its existing lab facilities to this new building. In addition, the Innovation Centre will also have room for start-ups in the Innolab Agrifood, developed by Campus Groningen and partners.
Proximity to knowledge centres
The advantage of this location for Avebe is its proximity to knowledge centres such as the University of Groningen, the University Medical Centre Groningen, the Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen and other companies involved in research and innovation. Cooperation with fellow researchers will be a matter of course. This way, Zernike Campus will be the location of an exciting new innovation hotspot in Agrifood.
New knowledge, new innovation
Starch Technology Officer Piet Buwalda is pleased to move to the Zernike Campus: “Now we can finally concentrate all our lab facilities in one place. Working on a campus really makes a difference: it is much easier to work with others, which will undoubtedly lead to new knowledge and jumps in innovation. In fact, I can see the CCC offices from my new window. Getting together for talks on research over coffee has become so much easier. In addition, we will also be able to attract young talented researchers more easily.”
Boosting customer confidence
Buwalda is certain that the new location will also boost customer confidence: “We have always provided business support to our customers and suppliers. This location gives us the opportunity to take business support to the next level. We will be able to assist customers who wish to innovate their business, for instance by using a new kind of starch or protein or by modifying certain ingredients. Our new customer innovation centre, where we will also receive our relations, will be a showcase for Avebe, linking our name to innovation and technology.”
Steady CCC partner
Avebe will also continue as a steady partner of CCC, participating in almost all programs the CCC initiates. Buwalda: “We are happy to assist the CCC by providing ingredients in order to increase the scientific knowledge of carbohydrates, starch and proteins.” At the moment Avebe is a partner in, for instance, CarboKinetics, CarboBiotics and CarboBased. “We just received a very favourable midterm review of the CarboKinetics program. This program is already providing us with excellent leads from often unexpected angles. All in all, we are pleased to be a partner in the valuable network CCC has built.
