MAGGI and MILO. These are just two of Nestlé’s household names across Asia. And without Nestlé R&D, they may not have even happened. The Swiss giant’s R&D centre plays an important role in the development of products for many of the company’s global consumer. Located in Singapore, it is Nestlé’s leading centre for the development of culinary and beverage products, while being at the forefront of innovation.

Nestlé set up its first R&D centre in Singapore 30 years ago as part of Nestlé’s R&D global network and at the same time test bedding products for the region. Singapore was chosen then for its strong connectivity with the regional markets that Nestlé was breaking into. Three decades on, the global food brand has invested more into its centre here and remains a fan of the sound infrastructure, pro-business government policies and uniquely multicultural society.

Nestlé R&D Singapore serves Nestlé’s fastest growing markets in the Asia-Pacific region and currently employs over 100 people with a multi-cultural mix of 15 different nationalities. Like German Susanne Kulhanek, Director of Nestlé’s R&D Singapore, who saw her posting to Singapore as a great opportunity. “Singapore is a melting pot of the Asia-Pacific region and boasts an amazing array of nationalities and cuisines. This ties in well with my job as Director of Research at Nestlé R&D Singapore to develop new consumer food products, so the decision was easy, it was an opportunity not to be missed”, said Kulhanek.

In July, the Swiss giant announced its plan to set up a new regional innovation hub for research and development in coffee mixes in Singapore. The centre will serve the Asia-Pacific region where the demand for coffee mixes is growing and expected to increase over the coming years. In Singapore alone, 350 million cups of coffee mixes are consumed annually.

The centre will also allow Nestlé to accelerate innovation in beverages and develop new product concepts based on local tastes and preferences for both local and wider geographical roll out.

In a ChannelnewsAsia interview, Nestlé mentioned, “We have a very strong concept which is consumer-centric research. And you can only do consumer-centric research locally, so this is the main reason why we are coming here and trying to support this strongly growing business in future.

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Nestlé’s commitments to Singapore have also been fostered by its strong partnerships with the Singapore Government through its agencies such as Singapore’s Economic Development Board, Agri-Food Veterinary Authority and Health Promotion Board. Nestlé also tied up with tertiary education centres and their respective research institutes to offer training opportunities at Nestlé R&D. It is a win-win situation for students and the company – the company gets to recruit the talented trainees and the student gains experience working in a global food & beverage conglomerate.

The very diversity of the talent pool in Singapore means that Nestlé needs to only look in its backyard to fill its need for chefs, nutritionists, technical engineers and food technologists, for its development and research work. Nestlé R&D boasts a good mix of both local and international talent – which has given the company a leading edge in developing new products for the region.

Kulhanek said, “Singapore is not just an Asian place but a global, international place with a good mix of nationalities and this is excellent when you are doing R&D work, the cross-fertilisation of ideas between talent here helps us fine-tune our various prototypes for eventual production of successful products.”

Blending local flavours with Swiss technical excellence, Nestlé developed several new products here for the global market such as Turkey, Australia, South-East Asia, China and other Asia Pacific countries. This has seen Nestle reaping the benefits of its secret brew for success – tapping on the diverse talent pool in Singapore for Asia.

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