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一个重要的经济驱动力，为3500多名员工提供了就业机会。饮料行业已经发现了阻碍他们创新新产品的生态系统中的主要差距，包括缺乏负担得起的研究专业知识、设备和设施。此外，由于加拿大最近的合法化，在餐饮产品中加入大麻化合物的需求不断增长，并且非常需要新的研究。在这个题为“通过饮料创新和商业化促进经济繁荣”的提案中，尼亚加拉学院（NC）寻求通过扩展应用研究解决方案，更好地服务于日益增长的安大略省餐饮行业的需求。NC在支持当地餐饮生产商的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。加拿大食品与葡萄酒研究所创新中心（CFWI IC）是加拿大食品与葡萄酒研究所的三个创新中心之一，其任务是帮助餐饮业的中小企业将产品商业化并推向市场。该提案建立在区域饮料制造商令人难以置信的需求和6年多的餐饮研发能力建设的基础上。目标集中于可行性研究（上市前和上市后的服务和风险评估）；饮料研究和产品开发（创新工艺并结合关键市场趋势）；消费者接受和质量保证；并通过一个小批量、规模化的饮料加工实验室进行研究测试。食品安全是我们一切工作的基础。这将使CFWI IC能够通过填补饮料研究和创新生态系统的重要空白，为学生提供增强的体验式学习机会，并满足强大的当地行业需求。

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.