At our Dr. Schär R&D Centre in Trieste (Italy), we have inaugurated a new high-tech pilot plant. With an investment of approximately €1.2 million, this marks an important step forward in our journey of innovation in special nutrition. This is not just a new production facility, but an environment designed to bring research even closer to its real-world application. Here, we can accelerate product development through the use of artificial intelligence, making the transition from the experimental phase to industrial production more seamless and direct.
Fully wired and digitalised, the plant enables us to work in new ways: collecting, reading and interpreting data from machinery becomes an integral part of the development process. This allows us to continuously improve formulations, reduce validation times and ensure increasingly high-quality standards. In this context, technological innovation and a strong focus on sustainability in food production naturally go hand in hand. The goal is not only to make processes more efficient, but also to contribute to a more responsible production model, capable of generating long-term value.
The new pilot plant is part of a research ecosystem that has been active in Trieste for over twenty years. Since 2003, our R&D Centre has brought together a team of 35 researchers with multidisciplinary expertise ranging from food chemistry to biotechnology, as well as raw material studies and agronomic projects. Their work supports every stage of product development, from early concepts through to large-scale production.
“This integrated approach allows us to fully leverage the diverse expertise of our team, work across increasingly complex application areas and progressively expand the scope of our activities,” explains Virna Cerne, Senior Director of Global Research & Development at the Dr. Schär R&D Centre. “In this way, we can put our scientific and technological knowledge at the service of diverse nutritional needs, developing solutions that are increasingly targeted, effective and responsive to people’s real-life requirements.”
Over the years, we have gone beyond gluten-free, gradually expanding our scope and developing solutions for complex needs such as chronic kidney disease nutrition and ketogenic diets used in clinical settings. This journey has built a solid foundation of expertise and knowledge, evidenced by 15 patent families (43 individual patents), and driven by a clear vision: to combine nutritional quality, food safety, taste and sustainability, making special nutrition increasingly accessible, effective and an integral part of everyday life.
