Nutritional Testing Equipment to Support Emerging Agri-Food Businesses

为支持伦敦、安大略省和周边地区农业食品生产和加工部门中小企业的创新需求，Fanshawe申请资金购买营养检测设备设计，以将其服务从产品开发扩展到商业化前和质量保证/控制支持。当地和区域中小企业基本上无法获得所需设备，原因是与私营实验室有关的费用，以及对区域生态系统中基于发现的研究(而不是应用研究)的支持之间的差距，Fanshawe已经拥有通过其生物技术应用研究和创新中心(CARIB)实验室填补的基础设施和专门知识，而生物经济中心(CBE@FAN)则没有这些实验室。最终，通过向公司提供测试其产品以确定营养价值、成分浓度和产品组成以及配方稳定性的能力，Fanshawe将能够帮助公司不仅通过其对创新的支持来降低产品开发阶段的风险，而且还能够降低将产品通过早期开发阶段以成功投放市场的相关成本。除了这些好处之外，通过与行业合作伙伴的应用研究项目和所需设备的工作为范绍尔学生提供的培训，以及为与范绍尔学院人员就项目进行接触的行业合作伙伴代表提供的培训机会，将有助于解决该行业日益扩大的技能差距，并将生物技术和仪器设备技能的学生介绍给需要他们人才的创新型食品和饮料公司。

In support of the innovation needs of SMEs in the agri-food production and processing sector in London, ON and the surrounding region, Fanshawe requests funding to purchase nutritional testing equipment design to extend its services beyond product development into pre-commercialization and quality assurance/control supports. The requested equipment is largely unavailable to local and regional SMEs due to the costs associated with private labs and a gap between support for discovery-based, as opposed to applied, research in the regional ecosystem that Fanshawe already has the infrastructure and expertise to fill through its Centre for Applied Research and Innovation in Biotechnology (CARIB) labs and the Centre for Bioeconomy (CBE@FAN) run out of those labs. Ultimately, by providing companies with the ability to test their products to determine nutritional values, concentration of ingredients and composition of products, and stability of formulations, Fanshawe will be able to assist companies in not only de-risking the product development stage through its supports for innovation, but also reducing costs associated with taking products past that early stage of development in order to successfully go to market. On top of these benefits, the training available to Fanshawe students through their work on applied research projects with industry partners and on the requested equipment, combined with the training opportunities available for representatives from industry partners who engage with Fanshawe College personnel on projects, will help to address a growing skills gap in the sector and introduce students with the biotechnology and instrumentation skills to the innovative food and beverage companies that need their talent.