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Unilever’s Foods Innovation Centre

Do you like to shake things up in the kitchen? How about the world? Welcome to Hive. Hive is Unilever’s global Foods Innovation Centre and we live at the Wageningen Campus in the Netherlands, the Silicon Valley of Food. Together, we’re making food that tastes good, feels good and is a force for good. Now and for the future.

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Hive in a nutshell

Hive is Unilever’s global Foods Innovation Centre

500 innovators

At Hive, around 500 employees work on the foods of tomorrow.

1 billion

We’re innovating some of the world’s best loved food brands like Knorr, Hellmann’s and Unilever Food Solutions, all with an annual turnover topping 1 billion Euros.

190 countries

Already we’re serving consumers and customers across 190 countries - and growing.

18,000m2

Our spaces are as open as we are. We’ve 18,000m2 of collaboration spaces, a pilot plant, laboratories and kitchens and the ground floor is available for everyone to use.

1,500 solar panels

Hive is energy neutral, built from heaps of recycled parts and powered by over 1,500 solar panels.

2 BREEAM awards

That’s why Hive has won 2 global BREEAM awards as one of the world’s most sustainable buildings.


Hot off the press… (37 items)

Plant-based bowl

Everything we know about plant-based meat so far

Research findings by our Unilever Science and Technology Future Health and Wellness team at Hive and various collaborators on a range of topics have shed some interesting light on important areas like consumers’ long-term acceptance of plant-based meat, our emotional connection to it and the whole question around adequate nutrient intake in comparison to diets with animal meat. Get the lowdown.

Manfred Aben, Industry representative and chairman, depicted together with Marian Geluk, Executive director (left) and Gerda Verburg, Non-Executive director (right)

The first annual meeting of the Next Food Collective!

The Next Food Collective is an initiative that aims to create positive change by bridging the gap between the food industry and knowledge institutes. Together with its partners, the collective is accelerating the pace of transforming agri-food systems, so to pave the way for the transitions to a more sustainable healthy global food system.

A child eating a plant-based diet

Do plant-based diets provide children with essential nutrients?

Over the years, health authorities have been advocating to prioritize plant-based diets and limit the consumption of animal products. As these plant-based diets are gaining recognition for their health benefits, an important question remained: Do these diets provide children and adolescents (2 -18 y) with the essential nutrients they need for growth and development?

Sign Samen tegen voedselverspilling

''It starts with changing our mindset''

These are the words ushered by our Innovation Chef Antonio Alvarez, who in line with the Dutch's 'Verspillingsvrije Week’ (Waste-free Week) presented Hive’s viewpoint and strategies for minimizing food waste.

Top view of sandwich placed on a plate with a pan of bacon on the side.

Better bacon: the science behind the sizzle

Thanks to revolutionary food tech, The Vegetarian Butcher’s new plant-based rashers dish up a true no-bacon bacon taste sensation that cooks and looks like the original. We take a look at what makes NoBacon 2.0 a game-changer.

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