Food Innovation Research Studio (First)

加拿大的食品加工业是该国最大的制造业，提供的就业机会比运输和机械制造业的总和还要多。从油田到餐桌，该行业占全国GDP的9%以上，创造了230万个就业岗位，约占加拿大全部就业岗位的13%。多伦多的食品和饮料集群主导着安大略省的食品工业。尽管在多伦多方圆80公里的范围内，有超过25,000家食品行业相关的公司、组织和机构，但在生产、食品安全、储存、包装、标签和将产品快速推向市场等方面，GTA没有满足行业需求的设施。缺乏这种设施是部门增长的障碍，对中小型企业来说尤其如此。为了填补这一空白，乔治布朗学院（GBC）提议创建食品创新与研究工作室（FIRSt）。FIRSt将为GTA食品行业提供食品概念到商业化的技术支持和商业创新服务。FIRSt建立在GBCs通过培训、应用研究和产品开发活动为食品行业服务的丰富经验的基础上。该工作室将整合专业的食品科学应用研究、配方和产品开发团队以及尖端的研究实验室、测试厨房和设备。通过FIRSt，行业客户将能够快速和经济有效地开发和商业化新的食品产品。

Canada's food processing industry is the largest manufacturing sector in the country, providing more jobs than the transportation and machinery manufacturing sectors combined. From field to fork, the sector is responsible for more than 9% of national GDP and 2.3M jobs, roughly 13% of all Canadian jobs. Torontos food and beverage cluster dominates the Ontario food industry. Although over 25,000 food industry-related companies, organizations and agencies are located within 80km of Toronto, there is no facility in the GTA meeting industry needs in areas such as production, food safety, storage, packaging, labelling and getting products speedily to market. The absence of such a facility is a barrier to sector growth, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. To fill this gap, George Brown College (GBC) proposes to create the Food Innovation and Research Studio (FIRSt). FIRSt will provide food product concept to commercialization technical support and business innovation services to the GTA food industry. FIRSt builds on the GBCs extensive experience serving the food industry through its training, applied research and product development activities. The Studio will integrate an expert food science applied research, recipe and product development team with cutting edge research laboratories, test kitchens and equipment. Via FIRSt, industry clients will be able to swiftly and cost-effectively develop and commercialize new food products.