Carbery Food Ingredients is an Irish multinational food and ingredients company that was interested in developing a novel nutritional product and providing scientific rationale to support consumption of a new ingredient targeted at the sports nutrition market. The company had previously engaged with the university and so was aware of the level of expertise available from across the areas of exercise and nutritional research. The collaborative research project was fully funded by the company and ran from 2017 to 2021. The Innovation Office at UL provided support throughout, helping to put agreements in place and advising on funding and intellectual property considerations.
Following the completion of the project, Carbery successfully launched its new product Optipep 4Power, a hydrolysed whey protein for use in high-intensity interval training and supported by high quality scientific information. Carbery considers this product a “potential game-changer” for brands providing targeted nutritional solutions to consumers. The project has also resulted in benefits to the university that include funding into the lab, a PhD student being funded, the publication of several scientific papers as well as exposure to industry expertise.
“Carbery has had collaborations with the PESS team in UL for almost two decades and this most recent collaboration was a very open and successful one. The degree of co-operation in this recent project was truly collaborative from market research to project design to communications and dissemination of the outputs to aid the commercialisation of a new ingredient in the marketplace.” - Aine Hallihan, Director of Innovation, Carbery Food Ingredients Ltd.
Published: 2022
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