Kerry, a taste and nutrition company, opened its new regional innovation centre at Expo City Dubai. Edmond Scanlon, CEO of Kerry Group, opened the centre with his excellency Abdulaziz Al Jaziri, deputy CEO and chief operating officer of the Dubai Future Foundation.

The Kerry Innovation Centre at Expo City Dubai turns global ideas into local products. It brings together trends, consumer insights and ingredients from Kerry’s network around the world, and helps food and drink companies in the region convert ideas into locally tailored products, according to the company. “Our new innovation centre reflects our long-term commitment to the Middle East and to helping our customers grow. By bringing Kerry’s global expertise in taste and nutrition closer to customers in the region, we can work together to create better products that reflect local tastes and evolving consumer needs. Our collaboration with Dubai Future Foundation puts that ambition into practice, exploring how we can improve the nutritional profile of familiar foods without compromising the taste people love,” says Edmond Scanlon, CEO, Kerry Group.

Inside the centre, customers work side by side with Kerry’s chefs and scientists in shared kitchens, application labs and a sensory room, where new products are tasted, tested and refined before they go to market. The centre is supported by Kerry’s proprietary AI tools, such as Kalaido, for product innovation, and Nexus, for recipe formulation, drawing on market data and the expertise of more than 1,300 Kerry scientists working across 60 technology and innovation centres all around the world.

Kerry opened its first development centre in Dubai in 2013, and the new Innovation Centre at Expo City Dubai extends that work to customers across the Middle East and beyond.

To mark the opening, Kerry and Dubai Future Foundation launched the Taste of Tomorrow Challenge, a new collaboration for Dubai Future Week. The challenge asks a question that matters to every family in the UAE: can the region’s favourite foods be made healthier without losing the taste people love? Teams of local chefs and creators will work with Kerry scientists to remake traditional Emirati and Dubai dishes, from karak and laban to luqaimat, with less salt, sugar or fat and the same great taste. Each team takes on one of three briefs inspired by Dubai Future Week: live longer, perform better and feel better.

The teams will develop their dishes in Kerry’s kitchens in just 10 days, from 9 to 19 November, and their progress will be filmed and shared by Kerry, Dubai Future Foundation and the creators. On Friday 20 November, the teams will present their dishes at Dubai Future Week, pitching to a panel of judges and offering tastings to visitors and media. Awards will go to the best dish for each brief, a crowd favourite and an overall winner.

Dubai Future Week is organised by Dubai Future Foundation, with more than 10,000 inventors, investors, policymakers and specialists from around the world, and its programme explores how we will live and feel in the future, from longevity and sport to mental health, food and nutrition.