Innovation Manager for the Leuven Food Science and Nutrition Research Centre (LFoRCE)

Today, the whole food chain is more complex than ever. Many challenges face all involved, be it in agriculture, food production, retail, policy making and regulatory bodies, or research and development. Challenges include increasing the sustainability of food production systems, assuring and improving the quality and safety of food products, conferring health-promoting properties to food products, and dealing with the shift in age profile of the consumer. In addition, diverse lifestyles and consumer demands with respect to organoleptic properties, healthiness, shelf life, price, diversity and convenience of food make innovation in food technologies and novel food concepts the key to success in the food sector.

Against this background, the multidisciplinary Leuven Food Science and Nutrition Research Centre (LFoRCe) brings together a 'critical mass' of KU Leuven researchers with expertise on feed, food and health, spanning the entire agro-food chain from farm to fork. The aim is to perform interdisciplinary cutting-edge research in an (inter)national environment on innovative food systems and advanced food technologies, health-related functionalities of food and food ingredients in model systems and humans, and social and consumer related issues related to sustainable and healthy nutrition. The ultimate goal is to strengthen the position and visibility of the KU Leuven in the international agro-food arena tying in with (inter)national clusters and stakeholder networks. In its activities LFoRCe covers the knowledge chain from basic to applied research and transfer novel technologies to relevant stakeholders.