IFF to Open Flavor & Fragrance Innovation Center

The new center will strengthen IFF's global leadership in fragrances, flavors, functional ingredients, and bioscience.

August 1, 2024

International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) plans to complete the renovation and expansion of its facilities in Shanghai Hongqiao Airport Business Park, Shanghai, China. The site will be fully operational by the end of this month.

The 16,000 square-meter site, named Shanghai Creative Center, is IFF’s largest in Asia. The project is designed to drive the development of innovative solutions across the IFF portfolio in China and the Greater Asia market, further strengthening its global leadership in fragrances, flavors, functional ingredients, and bioscience-based portfolios.

IFF first entered the Chinese market in 1981, becoming the fragrance and flavor industry’s first multinational to establish a footprint and to set up a factory. The newly renovated site signals the importance of the Asia region to IFF, globally.

Today, China is one of the most important markets for flavors and fragrances with high potential for growth. Furthermore, the region’s demand for bioscience-based products is rapidly accelerating, as consumers increasingly seek options for greater longevity and healthy lifestyles. IFF’s knowledge and experience in these sectors, coupled with this investment in the innovation center, positions the company to offer differentiated products to market quickly and effectively to support its customers’ brand growth strategies in China.

"IFF has a long track-record of partnering with our customers to create successful solutions that meet their consumers’ needs," said Ana Paula Mendonça, IFF Scent president. "The Shanghai Creative Center will foster outstanding ideation, supporting the art of taste, biotech, and perfumery, for even more out-of-the-box innovation across our portfolio."

The Shanghai Creative Center is poised to become a hub for technical synergy and sensory exploration. The facilities will include an open-office layout, a sensory science center, a scent creative center, and state-of-the-art labs set up for creation, design, and product analysis. The site’s culinary demo kitchen and the pioneering instant noodle pilot line underscore its vision of culinary innovation. The center also features an exclusive fine fragrance area dedicated to the art of perfumery, and a 360° digital space, offering an immersive olfactory experience that bridges the physical and digital realms, setting the stage for live-streaming educational workshops.

Kristen Kazarian

Managing Editor

Kristen Kazarian has been a writer and editor for more than three decades. She has worked at several consumer magazines and B2B publications in the fields of food and beverage, packaging, processing, women's interest, local news, health and nutrition, fashion and beauty, automotive, and IT.

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IFF to Open Flavor & Fragrance Innovation Center