SHERIDAN, WYOMING - November 25, 2025 - Nestlé Health Science is deepening its open innovation strategy in nutrition and health through a series of academic and startup collaborations focused on women's health, healthy longevity and weight management, positioning itself at the center of fast-growing therapeutic nutrition markets. By linking university-based science, entrepreneurial talent and its own R&D capabilities, the company aims to accelerate the translation of emerging technologies into differentiated nutritional solutions for consumers and patients.
Building open innovation platforms around new growth areas
Nestlé has identified women's health, healthy longevity and weight management as key growth platforms and is structuring its innovation ecosystem accordingly. Rather than relying solely on internal R&D, the company is deliberately expanding its network of academic and startup partners to surface new concepts and scale them more quickly.
These platforms align with several macro trends: ageing populations, increased focus on prevention, and growing consumer demand for evidence-based nutrition that targets specific health conditions or life stages. For healthcare providers, payers and channel partners, this approach promises a stronger pipeline of clinically oriented, science-backed products.
Strategic partnership with UC Davis to connect research and startups
With the University of California, Davis Innovation Institute for Food & Health, Nestlé Health Science is entering a strategic partnership designed to advance innovation across nutrition and health and support startup development. The collaboration is focused on identifying and bringing to market nutrition-based solutions that address women's health, healthy longevity and weight management.
Alongside co-developing concepts with emerging companies, the partners will explore joint research projects and student engagement, creating a talent and ideas funnel into Nestlé's innovation portfolio. For early-stage ventures in the UC Davis ecosystem, access to Nestlé Health Science expertise and routes to market can significantly shorten the path from lab to shelf.
Expanding startup acceleration in Australia
In Australia, Nestlé Health Science is working with the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne to accelerate startup innovation through its incubator program in women's health, healthy longevity and weight management. The collaboration is designed to identify high-potential ventures, provide mentorship and connect them with industrial know-how and potential commercialization opportunities.
The initiative also includes opportunities for student mentorship and participation in research projects, further strengthening the pipeline of innovators and applied scientists working on targeted nutrition. For regional health and nutrition startups, alignment with a global player can open new channels into international markets.
Innovation Challenge with Tufts University amplifies women's health focus
Nestlé's open innovation strategy is further reinforced by the third edition of its Innovation Challenge with the Food & Nutrition Innovation Institute at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. This edition concentrates on women's health intersecting with healthy longevity, inviting entrepreneurs and researchers to present new solutions.
Winners receive world-class support from Nestlé Health Science and Tufts University, including access to scientific expertise, mentorship and networking. This combination of academic credibility and industrial scale is designed to help turn promising concepts into market-ready nutritional products.
From ideas to differentiated products in three key health domains
Nestlé frames these collaborations explicitly as a way to bring highly targeted, science-based products to market.
"We want to encourage new solutions in health science through working directly with individuals who have brilliant ideas and could use professional guidance to develop them," said Hans Manning, Vice President of Innovation & Strategy at the R&D center for Nestlé Health Science in Bridgewater, New Jersey. "The strategic partnerships with the universities allow us to work with entrepreneurs to help them bring highly differentiated products to the market in three key areas: women's health; healthy longevity; and weight management. The ultimate aim is to provide science-based, groundbreaking nutritional solutions to advance the health status of consumers and patients."
Recent examples of innovation from Nestlé Health Science include a unique blend of bioactive nutrients to support muscle recovery under the Pure Encapsulations brand, and nutritional solutions for weight management under the Boost brand-illustrating how new science can be translated into commercially scalable offerings.
Strategic upside for healthcare stakeholders and nutrition brands
For healthcare professionals, health systems and distribution partners, Nestlé's open innovation framework signals a more dynamic pipeline of specialized nutritional solutions that align with clinical priorities such as sarcopenia prevention, metabolic health and life-stage-specific support for women.
By anchoring its strategy in academic collaborations and startup ecosystems across the United States and Australia, Nestlé Health Science is building a diversified innovation engine that can keep pace with evolving scientific evidence and patient needs, while sustaining long-term growth in therapeutic and consumer health nutrition markets.
For more information on Nestlé Health Science's partnerships and innovation initiatives in nutrition and health, visit https://www.nestle.com/.