Leading the future through innovation and cultivating new quality productive forces: 2024 Science and Technology Innovation Forum of Huabao was held

With the changing of season from golden autumn to early winter, it brings with rejuvenation of all things amidst the joy of harvest and the accumulation of strength. On November 15, 2024 the 2024 Science and Technology Innovation Forum (hereinafter referred to as “Forum”) of Huabao Flavours & Fragrances Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huabao" or the "Company") was held at Huabao Shanghai Industrial Park.

This was an in-depth dialogue on the innovative practices and future vision of Huabao, where five specially invited experts and guests from the industry, along with nearly a hundred Huabao employees excelling in science and technology innovation, gathered to explore the strategic direction and path for Huabao’s future journey in science and technology innovation, and to jointly draw a new blueprint for the Company’s development in science and technology innovation.

Opening remarks by Ms. YUAN: facing challenges and writing a magnificent chapter of the times together

The Forum was chaired by Mr. WANG Hongqiang, Vice President of Huabao Scientific Innovation Center. Ms. YUAN Xiaoqin, Director and President of Huabao, attended the Forum and delivered an opening speech. YUAN shared the Company’s notable achievements in the field of science and technology innovation over the past two years and expressed high expectations for the technology research & development (R&D) teams and sales elites. She pointed out that while China had made brilliant achievements in aerospace, new energy, and other fields, there was still a gap in the food industry, particularly in the areas of flavors, fragrances, and food ingredients, compared to developed countries and internationally renowned enterprises.

YUAN emphasized that consumers had increasingly strong pursuit of green, nutritious, and healthy products; although Huabao had achieved certain results in science and technology innovation, it still faced multiple challenges such as expanding innovation areas, enhancing innovation capabilities, and addressing the shortage of innovative talents. She encouraged technologists to be courageous, enhance their sense of urgency in keeping with the times, accurately grasp industry trends, and jointly build a globally competitive science and technology innovation system for Huabao with an open and innovative attitude. YUAN hoped that through this summit forum, ideas could be pooled to provide valuable insights for the Company’s science and technology innovation plan for the next three years, contributing to the brilliant future of Huabao.

Expert sharing: valuable insights for joint pursuit of green, healthy and digital & intelligent development

At the main forum in the morning, specially invited experts and guests from the fields of consumer insights, food and health, functional foods, synthetic biology, and digitalization & intelligence shared various cutting-edge topics, engaging in a wonderful collision of ideas and wisdom that brought valuable inspiration and reflection to the participants.

• Consumer insights: decoding the top ten global food and beverage trends for 2025

Mr. ZHANG Sinan, Senior Business Development Manager of Innova Market Insights China, shared the top ten global trends in food and beverage for 2025 at the Forum. He pointed out that personalized nutrition, gut health, the natural attributes of plant-based products, flavor fusion innovation, and the impact of climate change on consumer choices would be key trends in 2025. He emphasized that as consumers became increasingly concerned about healthy diet, brands must continuously innovate to meet their increasingly diverse needs.

• Industry trends: the development of nutritious and healthy food industry garners attention

Mr. SUN Xiaotao, Vice Dean of the School of Food and Health at Beijing Technology and Business University, presented a report on the development trends of the green, nutritious, and healthy food industry. He noted that the output value of China’s food industry had reached RMB 10 trillion, but nutritious and healthy food accounted for only 5%, and China’s per capita consumption was far lower than that of the United States. Therefore, he called on the industry to strengthen basic research, build an innovation chain, and promote the development of the nutritious and healthy food industry through science and technology innovation, thus enhancing the nutritional and health levels of citizens.

• Functional foods: new opportunities for the development of functional food ingredients

Ms. LV Xiaomei, a Researcher and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Food Science and Technology of Jiangnan University, provided an in-depth analysis of the latest trends in the special food industry. She pointed out that special foods, as an important guarantee of nutritional health for specific populations, were facing the challenge of a scarcity of core nutrient bases; however, the rise of formula foods for special medical purposes had brought new development opportunities to the industry. Ms. LV introduced the breakthroughs her team had made in key functional ingredients such as sugar and fat regulation, which would inject new vitality into the R&D of special foods.

• Synthetic biology: broad application prospects in the food industry

Mr. RAO Zhiming, a Secondary Professor at the School of Biotechnology of Jiangnan University and the Deputy Director of the National Engineering Research Center of Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing at Jiangnan University, shared insights on the application of synthetic biology in the food industry, demonstrating its huge potential in building efficient microbial cell factories. Professor RAO shared how his team had addressed key challenges such as the cultivation of high-yielding strains and genome editing through synthetic biology technologies, and achieved significant socio-economic and ecological benefits.

• AI empowerment: generative AI facilitates a leapfrog development in the flavor and fragrance industry

Mr. ZHAO Dexu, Vice President of Huabao, presented a speech titled “Intelligence Enlivens Fragrance: Generative AI Empowering Huabao”. He elaborated on the differences between generative AI and traditional AI, and explored how AI could empower the flavor and fragrance industry. Mr. ZHAO stated that the emergence of generative AI had brought unprecedented innovation opportunities to the flavor and fragrance industry; and Huabao was actively exploring the application of AI in product development, production optimization, and other aspects, aiming to maintain a leading position in the fiercely competitive market.

During the Forum, experts also jointly visited the science and technology innovation achievements exhibition carefully orchestrated and arranged by Huabao, getting a close-up view of the Company’s fruitful achievements in the field of science and technology innovation. Particularly noteworthy was Arobot, an AI flavors and fragrances creator, which attracted the attention of experts and guests with its unique personalized and customized fragrance experience, fully demonstrating Huabao’s outstanding charm in digital and intelligent transformation.

After the end of the main forum, the participants took a group photo.

Internal sharing: gathering wisdom and strength to write a new chapter of future development together

Besides the top-notch lineup of external experts, the Forum also featured a strong lineup of internal thematic speakers from Huabao and its major subsidiaries. The eight speakers from Huabao and its major subsidiaries focused on Huabao’s strategic development in depth and breadth to delve into the Company’s latest technological frontiers, future development plans, market evolution trends and other core contents.

The core topics of Huabao’s internal speakers covered the innovation in core raw materials and new ingredients, the development of green and healthy ingredients, the construction of integrated comprehensive solutions, and the deep collaboration across industries. They also discussed the digital and intelligent upgrading of the flavor and fragrance industry.

The internal speakers agreed that Huabao should significantly enhance the added value and core competitiveness of its products through innovative technology applications, precisely meet consumers’ urgent needs for green, nutritious, and healthy products, lead flavor innovation in the food and beverage industry, and effectively promote industry transformation and upgrading, ultimately to “Flavor Your Life”.

After the end of the internal sharing session, Ms. LI Xiaojun, Vice President of Huabao, took the stage and gave a speech. She highly praised the organization of the Forum and put forward several requirements for Huabao’s future development. Ms. LI pointed out that in the face of an increasingly complex domestic and international market environment, the Company must strengthen its research on technology compliance to ensure that all business activities were conducted robustly within the legal framework. When discussing the Company’s core competitiveness, Ms. LI believed that owning core raw materials with independent intellectual property rights was key for the Company to resist external risks and enhance product competitiveness. Furthermore, she noted that as the Company accelerated its internationalization efforts, it was crucial to establish a comprehensive enterprise management system and attract and retain top talents, especially those with an international perspective and cross-cultural communication skills. Ms. LI called on everyone to maintain an open and innovative mindset and operation, and emphasized the importance of strengthening capacity building and collaboration among R&D, sales, and all employees.

Group discussion: drawing on the wisdom of the masses and working together for Huabao’s bright future

Group discussion session was also specially organized at the Forum, aiming to pool the wisdom and efforts of everyone to contribute to the Company’s future development. The participants were divided into four groups, focused on the two core topics of “Huabao’s direction and implementation path for science and technology innovation in the next three years” and “strategies and practices for leveraging AI to boost science and technology innovation”, and carried out enthusiastic and productive discussions.

After sufficient discussions, each group presented their findings and shared their insights and experiences. This session not only demonstrated Huabao’s corporate culture of value creation and shared achievements, but also provided valuable suggestions and intellectual support for the Company’s future development. With the joint efforts of all dedicated individuals, Huabao will continue to advance on the path of science and technology innovation and create an even brighter future!

Award ceremony for article soliciting activity: excellent works showcase Huabao’s wisdom

At the conclusion of the Forum, an award ceremony for article soliciting activity was held. The article soliciting activity encouraged all employees to deeply analyze industry trends and cutting-edge food technologies based on the Company’s current development status and propose specific suggestions for the Company’s science and technology innovation over the next three years. Upon launch, the activity received an enthusiastic response and participation from all Huabao employees. Participants conducted profound thinking around business innovation and science and technology innovation across the upstream and downstream of the industry chain, including raw materials, solution provision, and food production, and put forward many innovative and forward-looking suggestions.

A total of 60 articles were submitted, and after careful evaluation and screening by the organizing committee, one gold award, two silver awards, and three bronze awards were rated. These award-winning works not only reflected the authors’ innovative ideas and unique insights, but also provided valuable inspiration and reference for Huabao to formulate its science and technology innovation plan for 2025-2027.

The next three years are a crucial period for Huabao’s transformation and challenges. The path to strengthening the Company through technology is long and arduous, with a glorious but heavy mission! This Forum was not only a collision and fusion of wisdom, but also an action to pursue common development. Representatives of scientific and technological workers shoulder heavy responsibilities, strive to be pioneers in science and technology innovation and key participants in major tasks, and make new contributions to the Company’s science and technology innovation, which demonstrate the daring and innovative spirit of Huabao people.

Looking forward, we will advance a series of groundbreaking science and technology innovation strategies with unwavering determination and steady steps, continuously break through technological bottlenecks and enhance our core competitiveness. On the journey of science and technology innovation, we will become more and more determined and sail together towards Huabao’s vast blue ocean of developing new quality productive forces!