Paying for innovation

The news that a bioplastic has been made from whey derived from cheese making shows that in dairy, the drive to innovate is coming centre and front. In order for producers to add value to products, further derivations of dairy products may be necessary, and researchers are working on this.

Additionally, a milk salt product from Valio, ValSa, is made from whey and is being promoted as a way to reduce salt content in products. It is all about looking at the components of milk, and finding new fractions from it. Further down the line, it is about continuing to move the industry ahead in today’s world.

However, all this innovative behaviour comes at a price. The bioplastic is being made as part of a Spanish and Portuguese consortium in Europe, Life Wheypack. Valio for its part has spent ten years developing this as part of another product development, and spends a fair amount of its R&D budget on being more cutting edge. The former project in particular was a result of EU funding. Innovation does not come from non-existent funding, and we in the industry have to ensure that new developments do not wither on the vine.

In the UK, we have to be particularly wary because European-funded projects just wind up being non-existent, after funding ends. Or in the future, they will never occur in the first place. It may be more helpful not having to explain to European MEPs what needs the industry has, but I suspect some of the MPs may be non-informed as well. In some ways, the Brexit vote has just moved the debating ring so people won’t have to travel to Brussels, and instead will have to head to Westminster. Whether that will be beneficial to the scientific community in the long run is unclear.