The University of Queensland has opened a purpose-led facility designed to accelerate product development in the food and beverage sector.
The Faba MakerSpace – developed under Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator (Faba) – allows rapid prototyping while providing businesses access to specialised equipment and research expertise.
“This facility aims to help businesses test ideas, refine food and beverage formulations, and explore new technologies in a way that is agile and efficient,” said Professor Nidhi Bansal from Faba.
The site aims to cut early-stage innovation cost and risk by allowing companies to validate concepts before scaling up.
Capabilities at the facility include beverage and liquid processing, powder development, filtration and separation, sterilisation and packaging systems, and drying technologies such as spray drying and freeze drying.
Businesses can produce multiple prototypes in a single session, trial emerging technologies, and assess feasibility prior to investing in commercial-scale equipment.
“By giving industry partners access to a food-grade space equipped for fast, low-risk prototyping, we are enabling them to innovate more quickly while drawing on UQ’s research expertise to co-design practical and commercially focused solutions,” Bansal added.
- Further reading: Australia’s first collaborative food manufacturing hub is a step closer.
