The food and beverage industry is changing quickly – consumers want cleaner labels, regulators are tightening requirements, and brands are seeking sustainable alternatives that perform as well as, or better than, their artificial counterparts.

To stay ahead of that curve, we embrace open innovation. That means looking outward just as much as inward, finding the best ideas and technologies from startups around the world, and transforming them into commercial color solutions that deliver on performance, safety, and sustainability.

Five criteria to guide us

It sounds straightforward, but behind every partnership is a very deliberate process. Over the years we’ve developed five criteria that guide our decisions and help us identify which collaborations truly deserve investment and long-term commitment.

When we first encounter a potential partner, the question we ask is: does this really fill a gap? Not a theoretical one, but a gap our customers actually feel – a color shade they cannot achieve naturally, a stability challenge they struggle with, or a sustainability issue they’re under pressure to solve. Many technologies are interesting; very few meaningfully advance the industry. The ideas that excite are the ones that unlock a new chapter for natural color, not just a footnote.

Natural and sustainable

Then comes what, for Oterra, is absolutely non-negotiable: the innovation must be natural. And not “natural-ish.” It must be derived from nature or produced through processes that stay true to natural origins. Our customers trust us to deliver genuine natural colors, and we guard that trust carefully.

After that, sustainability enters the conversation immediately and deeply. We look at land, water, and energy use, as well as carbon footprint, farming practices, and social impact. If a technology is environmentally intensive, it simply doesn’t belong in our portfolio. Some of our most successful partnerships were driven as much by sustainability as by science. You can’t retrofit responsibility onto a technology.

Shared values

But technology and sustainability aren’t enough. A great partnership depends on people. I’ve come to appreciate that shared values, openness, and trust determine the success of a collaboration far more than any technical specification. We want partners who are transparent, collaborative, and resilient – because the road from concept to commercial product is rarely smooth. I tell potential partners that we need to be able to be candid with each other, even in hard moments. That’s how we grow together.

Cost matters

Finally, every innovation must face the reality of scale and economics. Can this technology be produced at the right cost for global brands? Can it move from lab bench to industrial production without breaking? Is the regulatory pathway clear? As exciting as a breakthrough might be, if it cannot reach the scale that our customers need, it won’t create real-world impact.

Looking Ahead

Open innovation is not about handing over responsibility to startups – it is about combining their breakthroughs with our global scale, application mastery, and regulatory strength. The partnerships with Ecoflora, VAXA, and Seprify prove that when we bring together the best of both worlds, we can deliver meaningful change for customers and consumers.

And we are only getting started.

If you’re an innovator working on the next breakthrough in natural color or sustainable ingredient technology, we’d love to talk. Because the future of natural color isn’t built by one company – it’s built together.