Increasing Economic Prosperity through Beverage Innovation & Commercialization

食品和饮料（F&B）制造业是大尼亚加拉地区的主要经济驱动力，为3,500多名员工提供就业机会。饮料行业已经发现了生态系统中的主要差距，这些差距阻碍了他们创新新产品，包括缺乏负担得起的研究专业知识，设备和设施。 此外，由于最近在加拿大合法化，对在F&B产品中加入大麻化合物的需求日益增长，急需进行新的研究。 在这项题为“通过饮料创新和商业化增加经济繁荣”的提案中，尼亚加拉学院（NC）旨在通过扩大应用研究解决方案，更好地满足不断增长的安大略F&B行业的需求。NC在支持当地F&B生产商进行应用研究方面具有战略地位，并在烹饪艺术，食品科学，葡萄酒，啤酒，烈酒和大麻生产方面表现出领导地位。加拿大食品和葡萄酒研究所创新中心（CFWI IC）是NC的三个创新中心之一，其任务是协助F&B部门的中小企业将产品商业化并推向市场。这一提议建立在区域饮料制造商的巨大需求和6年多的F&B研发能力建设的基础上。 目标侧重于可行性研究（上市前和上市后服务以及风险评估）;饮料研究和产品开发（创新工艺并融入主要市场趋势）;消费者接受度和质量保证;并通过小批量进行研究测试，扩大饮料加工实验室。食品安全是我们所做的一切的基础。这将使CFWI IC能够为学生提供增强的体验式学习机会，并通过填补生态系统中饮料研究和创新的重要空白来满足当地行业的强劲需求。

Food and beverage (F&B) manufacturing is a large economic driver in the greater Niagara region, providing employment for more than 3,500 employees . The beverage sector has identified major gaps in the ecosystem that hold them back from innovating with new products, including a lack of affordable research expertise, equipment and facilities. Furthermore, there is a growing demand, and much needed novel research, for the inclusion of cannabis compounds in F&B products due to recent legalization in Canada. In this proposal entitled "Increasing Economic Prosperity through Beverage Innovation & Commercialization", Niagara College (NC) seeks to better serve the needs of the growing Ontario F&B industry through expanded applied research solutions. NC has a strategic position to support local F&B producers with applied research, and has demonstrated leadership in culinary arts, food science, wine, beer, spirits, and cannabis production. The Canadian Food & Wine Institute Innovation Centre (CFWI IC) is one of three innovation centres at NC and its mandate is to assist SMEs in the F&B sector to commercialize products and bring them to market. This proposal builds on an incredible demand by regional beverage manufacturers and more than 6 years of capacity-building in F&B research and development. Objectives are focused on feasibility studies (pre- and post-market services and risk assessments); beverage research and product development (innovative processes and incorporating key market trends); consumer acceptance and quality assurance; and conducting research test runs through a small-batch, scale-up beverage processing laboratory. Food safety will underpin everything we do. This will allow the CFWI IC to provide enhanced experiential learning opportunities for students and meet strong local industry demand, by filling an important gap in beverage research and innovation in the ecosystem.