Food and drinks companies will focus most of their innovation in the next two years on extending their range and developing new products, an industry survey has revealed.
Some 63 per cent of the firms surveyed by food and drink research organisation Campden BRI said they will target innovation on extending their range, with 62 per cent planning to develop entirely new products in the coming two years.
The other key drivers of innovation were targeting new markets (50 per cent), reformulating for health (43 per cent), and cost saving (38 per cent).
The majority of companies said they plan their innovation pipeline 9-12 months ahead, while less than 20 per cent plan more than a year in advance.
Time and resources were identified as the biggest barriers to innovation, with almost a quarter of respondents saying facilities were a barrier to innovation and 17 per cent saying generating ideas was an issue.
While all those surveyed said their company planned to innovate in at least one area over the next two years, only 28 per cent said it was a top priority. Over half (55 per cent) said innovation was in their company’s top five priorities.
Campden BRI received 126 responses to the innovation survey from a wide range of sectors, including ambient groceries, baked products, beers wines and spirits, prepared convenience foods, and retailers.
The responses mainly came from multinationals (39 per cent), large companies (19 per cent) and medium-sized companies (25 per cent). Small companies represented 17 per cent of the responses.
