On April 18th, local time in the Netherlands, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Yili Innovation Center Europe (YICE), a ceremony themed “Connect Globally to Drive Innovation” was held at Wageningen University to celebrate upgrades at YICE and the establishment of YMINI (Yili Maternal & Infant Nutrition Institute, YMINI) Global.

Yili Innovation Center Europe Upgrade Ceremony

Nearly 130 guests attended the event, including Laurence Rycken, Director General of the International Dairy Federation (IDF); Hartmut Michel, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry and member of the German Academy of Sciences, as well as representatives from Wageningen University & Research, the China Dairy Industry Association (CDIA), the International Life Sciences Institute, the Springer Nature Group, the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Embassy of China in the Netherlands, University of Cambridge, and Massey University of New Zealand.

As a vital partner of YICE, Wageningen University’s President of the Executive Board, Sjoukje Heimovaara stated: “Yili is one of the most respected partners in the Wageningen ecosystem, which contributes to projects and initiatives related to innovation and collaboration.”

At the ceremony, Liu Chunxi, Executive President of Yili Group, introduced how the Group collaborated with partners from upstream and downstream segments in global industrial supply chains for years to strive for innovation.

At the site, YICE released ten major innovation achievements, covering areas such as breast milk research, probiotics development, cheese innovation, sugar reduction, food safety, and the development and application of AI technology products. It also shed light on future research directions, ranging from disruptive technology research, functional ingredient development, and development of food for special medical purposes, to the application of AI digital technologies. Meanwhile, a decision was made to launch YMINI Global and to release The Publication of The Science of Breast Milk in collaboration with Nature, an internationally authoritative journal.

Regarding the achievements of YICE, Isabelle Guelinckx, Executive Director of the International Life Sciences Institute, said: “Yili’s future innovation directions are in line with what the business needs, and also what the market and consumers are asking. I’m looking forward to continuing this collaboration with Yili with its open spirit for collaboration with colleagues, academics, and their drive for innovation. ”

Stephen Pincock, Vice President of Impact Solutions at Springer Nature Group, said “I'm delighted to be part of a partnership with Yili that brings research about breast milk into the wider community.”

At the event, the high-standard laboratory invested in and built by Yili Group was officially put into use. The laboratory enables integrated operations for product R&D, efficacy validation, and pilot-scale production, and serves as an innovative platform for Yili to conduct R&D cooperation with partners.

The high-standard laboratory was officially put into use

Advancing industry-university-research cooperation is also a key part of this upgrade. YICE will join hands with Ausnutria’s production sites in the Netherlands, which is a subsidiary holding company of the Yili Group, and their research team at Wageningen University to further leverage the synergistic effects of Yili Group’s international production and R&D entities. The latest scientific research achievements of the European Center of the National Center of Technology Innovation for Dairy also made their debut at the event site.

Commenting on Yili’s innovation-driven development model, Laurence Rycken, Director General of the IDF, said “Innovations and technologies, like those found in the center focused on research and collaboration, are crucial for our progress.”