The Impact of IFF Partnerships: Innovation through Collaboration

Industries face increasing complexity—from reducing fossil fuel dependency and advancing biotechnology, to protecting ecosystems and building circular supply chains—and no single organization can solve these challenges alone. 

What’s required is collaborative innovation at scale, powered by strategic technology partnerships and deep, cross-sector expertise. 

IFF partnerships are not additive—they are foundational. Our approach to innovation through collaboration is embedded across our sustainability strategy. Our sustainability pillars — Conscious Sourcing, Intentional Innovation, and Operating for the Future — all depend on our foundation: Partnerships of Impact. 

From advances in biotechnology and biodiversity protection to citrus innovation and beyond, we are demonstrating how corporate innovation partnerships can unlock measurable sustainability outcomes while advancing breakthrough solutions. These innovation alliances don’t just support progress—they redefine how innovation happens—enabling technology partnerships with scalable, measurable impact. 

Partnership in Action: From Biodiversity to Business Value with Reservas Votorantim

Across global supply chains, pressures from land use, climate change and resource demand are converging making sustainable sourcing more critical and complex.

Traditional extraction models threaten ecosystems and introduce supply volatility, creating risk for both businesses and the natural systems they depend on.  

At IFF, we address these challenges through collaborative innovation and sustainable sourcing partnerships, with biodiversity at the core of our solutions and sustainability strategy. It informs how we develop flavors, fragrances and natural extracts—translating the richness of ecosystems into high-performing, responsibly sourced ingredients. Each ingredient reflects a story of origin, stewardship and transformation. 

Plants are sourced globally and studied at IFF facilities, where their chemical composition is analyzed for use in product development. These evaluations go beyond sensory performance to include sustainability and responsible sourcing criteria—ensuring we protect, value and regenerate the ecosystems we depend on.  

This work is grounded in local collaboration with communities, experts and strategic partners. Many of these efforts begin in biodiversity-rich regions such as Brazil’s Atlantic Forest—one of the world’s most diverse but ecologically threatened ecosystems.  

A Partnership Model for Sustainable Innovation

Through a strategic innovation partnership between LMR Naturals by IFF, our center of excellence for natural ingredients, and Reservas Votorantim (rV), a green-economy and nature-based solutions company within one of Brazil’s largest industrial and investment groups (Votorantim), we are connecting conservation, local knowledge and science to create a new operating model—transforming biodiversity into scalable solutions with global impact. 

At the core of this purpose-driven partnership is bioprospecting in ecologically unique areas. Alongside rV, we have the ambition to unlock nature’s potential in this unique biome, transforming its biodiversity into sustainable, high-performing ingredients for new fragrance and cosmetic applications. In this way, we will be advancing a model where environmental stewardship and innovation operate as a single, integrated system—not a trade-off.  

This is not just a sourcing initiative—it’s a system for turning biodiversity into scalable, co-creation in innovation and global impact. 

IFF is also investing in on-site scientific infrastructure, including a dedicated research lab within rV’s 31,000-hectare reserve—enabling IFF experts to study nearly 1,000 plant species directly within their native ecosystem.  

Structured as a multi-phase model over five years, the partnership moves from discovery to final scalable application. First, IFF scientists will work with local partners to identify native species with strong potential for use in natural ingredients, considering sensory aspects— such as olfactory profile and functional performance—and strict sustainability criteria.  

Next, we will research and develop solutions that respect environmental balance, using cultivation and extraction practices that preserve species and reduce pressure on natural resources. Ultimately, the goal is to bring responsibly sourced, biodiversity-driven ingredients into products used by millions of people worldwide—demonstrating how innovation through collaboration can deliver both business value and environmental impact. 

A System Built on Traceability, Ethics and Biodiversity Protection

This innovation partnership enhances transparency across the value chain—ensuring full visibility from forest to formulation while strengthening resilience and reducing risk. This model is also aligned with the Convention on Biological Diversity, embedding conservation, sustainable use and equitable benefit-sharing into measurable business practices. Moving forward, we hope this model will become a replicable framework we can apply in different regions of the world with additional partners, proving the business case for biodiversity becoming a driver of innovation through collaboration. 

Partnership in Action: Academic Collaboration with Florida Polytechnic University

Huanglongbing—also known as Citrus Greening Disease—is a bacterial infection that causes yellowing leaves, misshapen, bitter fruit and tree decline. Thriving in warm climates, it has significantly impacted citrus production, particularly in Florida, over the past two decades. Combined with more frequent hurricanes and broader climate pressures, these challenges have placed increasing strain on the citrus supply chain. 

These risks, along with aging agricultural practices and limited data on sustainable harvesting methods, have highlighted the need for more research into how we can sustainably strengthen the citrus supply chain. 

Enter our partnership with Florida Polytechnic University and the opening of IFF’s Citrus Innovation Center in 2025. 

At IFF, innovation partnerships play a critical role in strengthening both research pipelines and supply chain resilience. With the goal of advancing citrus science and technology across scent and taste applications, joining Florida Poly’s growing research park—focused on innovation and economic development—was a natural fit. Academic collaboration—through open innovation partnerships— provides access to deep scientific expertise, fresh perspectives, and opportunities that benefit both IFF and the next generation of researchers. 

The Citrus Innovation Center is dedicated to advancing technologies and products that harness the flavors, scents and functional properties of citrus to help revitalize the industry. By bringing together advanced botanical research, processing, analytics, product creation and customer collaboration in a single integrated location, the center enables collaborative innovation across the full value chain—from raw material sourcing to finished product development. This model also supports faster development cycles, more effective testing and closer alignment between science and market needs, reinforcing how innovation through collaboration accelerates time to market. 

Located in the heart of Florida’s citrus belt, the 30,000-square-foot facility is designed with sustainability at its core. As a LEED Silver-certified research center, it features energy-efficient infrastructure powered entirely by solar energy, along with reclaimed water systems for irrigation. Its integration with the surrounding landscape of citrus groves also reinforces the importance of responsible resource management and long-term sustainability. 

Driving Innovation Through Research, Talent and Sustainability

The Citrus Innovation Center will focus on three key areas:  

• Advancing research and development: Strengthening expertise to support a long-term collaborative product development pipeline. The center serves as a hub for experimentation and discovery, where new citrus varieties, extraction methods and product formulations can be developed and refined. 

• Developing talent and knowledge transfer: Collaborating with students, faculty and researchers to cultivate the next generation of scientists, agronomists and innovation leaders. This effort strengthens future industry capabilities while reinforcing the value of corporate innovation partnerships. 

• Driving sustainability and circularity: Evaluating how ingredients are sourced, processed and ultimately reintegrated into nature—while advancing circular solutions such as upcycling citrus byproducts into high-value ingredients that reduce waste across the value chain and strengthen supply chain resilience.  

Partnerships with local growers and agricultural stakeholders further strengthen this model by providing critical insights into real-world conditions. These relationships ensure innovations are both scientifically robust and practically scalable, while helping growers to optimize crop selection, improve yields and identify new revenue streams. 

Partnership in Action: Industry Collaboration Driving Scalable Innovation 

The market is demanding sustainable options at the intersection of chemistry, biotechnology, and materials science: Laundry detergent that removes stains and makes fabrics cleaner, even in cold water; shampoos and conditioners that don’t use harsh chemicals but keep the scalp clean and hair healthy; safe cleaning solutions that are made without petroleum. Consumers want these things, and our customers are seeking ways to provide them. But there are hurdles to development and deployment that no single organization can always fully overcome alone: namely, performance parity and scale. 

The Formula for Sustainable Alternatives: Performance Parity and Scale  

While there is demand for innovative, sustainable solutions, moving from proof of concept to widespread availability can be difficult. This is where technology partnerships and collaborative innovation come in—reflecting broader shifts toward open innovation partnerships and pre-competitive innovation platforms where industry leaders work together to develop foundational technologies that benefit entire sectors. 

For example, to accelerate the development of IFF’s Designed Enzymatic Biomaterials™(DEB) technology platform at scale and create next-generation enzyme technologies for fabric, dish and personal care as well as industrial cleaning applications, we announced a strategic innovation partnership in October 2025 with one of the world’s largest chemical companies and leader in sustainable product innovation. We have the shared vision of developing high-performance, sustainable solutions that meet evolving consumer and market demands. 

Combining our complementary expertise, IFF can contribute our capabilities in enzyme design and protein engineering, while our partner provides advanced chemical innovation and the large-scale production know-how. Together, we are advancing next-generation enzyme and biomaterial technologies designed to enhance performance, reduce environmental impact and deliver breakthrough solutions at scale.  

Overcoming the Trade-Off Between Performance and Sustainability 

Often, products that are better for the environment don’t perform as well as their traditional counterparts. As a key enabler of the bioeconomy, we are constantly exploring how our biotechnology-based innovations can replace petrochemical ingredients, reduce carbon intensity or offer other key performance and sustainability benefits. This means that the science, performance and environmental benefits are available to get us closer to, and achieve, the performance parity we need. 

DEB is a scalable innovation platform that uses biotechnology and protein engineering to create high-performance, nature-inspired materials. Built on the enzymatic polymerization of plant-based sugars, DEB enables the development of structurally diverse, biobased polymers with precision, consistency and scalability. 

Unlike fossil-based polymers, DEB enables the design of biodegradable, bio-based materials using plant-derived inputs and enzyme catalysts. This creates a broader design space for solutions that are both highly functional and environmentally responsible. As a result, enzyme-enabled technologies can: 

• Improve formulation efficiency and product performance 

• Enable lower-temperature processes, reducing energy use 

• Reduce water consumption and improve biodegradability 

These advances support more efficient formulations, reduced environmental footprint, and scalable deployment across industries—demonstrating how innovation alliances can deliver measurable impact. 

By combining IFF’s bioscience expertise with the advanced chemical capabilities of our partner, we will jointly expand the performance of what sustainable materials can achieve. Through collaborative product development, we are creating the foundation to accelerate large-scale innovation cycles and enable faster translation from scientific discovery to scalable market solutions. 

This is a clear example of how innovation through collaboration enables breakthrough technologies to scale across industries. 

What This Means for Customers

For customers and product developers, IFF partnerships translate directly into stronger, more reliable innovation outcomes. By building structured technology partnerships and collaborative innovation systems, IFF enables: 

• More secure and traceable sourcing: Reduced supply volatility through diversified, responsibly managed sourcing networks 

• Access to advanced technologies: Breakthrough platforms such as Designed Enzymatic Biomaterials™ and biodiversity-driven ingredient pipelines 

• Improved formulation consistency and performance: Scientifically validated ingredients and solutions developed through collaborative product development 

• Reduced development risk: Faster, more predictable innovation cycles enabled by shared expertise and integrated R&D capabilities 

• Stronger alignment with sustainability and regulatory expectations: Solutions designed to meet evolving global standards for environmental impact, transparency and compliance 

By translating innovation partnerships into tangible benefits across sourcing, formulation and commercialization, IFF helps customers bring high-performing, sustainable products to market with greater speed, confidence and scale. 

Partnering with IFF: Driving Innovation through Collaboration 

In a world where there can often be a gap between sustainability ambition and action, partnering for innovation is critical. It’s also important to not overlook the power of partnership-led innovation and technology partnerships to accelerate positive change and build resilient, future-ready supply systems. Together, the three examples presented here highlight the breadth of IFF’s partnership approach: 

• Biodiversity sourcing and conservation: IFF’s partnership with Reservas Votorantim addresses key challenges through traceability, ethics and biodiversity protection, demonstrating collaborative innovation can align environmental conservation with scalable business value.  

• Academic collaboration and R&D pipeline development: IFF’s collaboration with Florida Polytechnic aligns science and commercialization capabilities to strengthen supply chain resilience and stay on the cutting edge of citrus innovation. 

• Industry-scale technology alignment: By combining our DEB platform capabilities with complementary industry expertise, we are co-creating high-performing, sustainable materials at scale and enabling innovation across value chains. 

Ultimately, this work reinforces a key principle: sustainable innovation at scale requires more than individual expertise—it depends on structured, cross-sector collaboration systems that turn ambition into measurable impact. 

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