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25 August 2017
IIASA, Laxenburg

IIASA strengthens its partnership with Ferrero

A delegation from Ferrero, the third largest chocolate and confectionary company in the world, visited IIASA to further their innovative industry-research partnership and sign a new Memorandum of Understanding.

Ferrero and IIASA share a commitment to exploring the potential of science to transform industry in sustainable and economically viable ways. At the meeting IIASA and Ferrero signed a new open ended IIASA – FERRERO Memorandum of Understanding to increase the scope of a unique collaboration between business and science.

In 2016 Ferrero and IIASA launched a unique industry-research collaboration project to finance Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) participants at IIASA. Two YSSP fellows were funded by Ferrero in the summer of 2016 (Kemen Austin from USA and Honglin Zhong from China). This project will extend to the funding of another YSSP fellow in 2017 and a postdoctoral fellowship in 2018.

A recent IIASA study in collaboration with Ferrero shed light on efforts to avoid deforestation on palm estates in Malaysia where the company sources its products. The results highlighted that committed companies can verify the impact of zero-deforestation, or other sustainability policies, on the ground.

Ferrero only buys 100% segregated, sustainable palm oil and is committed to making raw materials traceable and transparent in its supply chain. IIASA’s systematic approach is providing the tools and methodology needed to fully implement Ferrero’s long-term strategy in sustainability.

The research team hopes that this innovative collaboration between science and industry will be replicated by other companies that are committed to sustainability. The project provides one of the first examples of much-needed systemic analysis for companies to assess their environmental footprint, and improve their business practices for the common good.

At the August 25 meeting, the Ferrero delegation headed by Aldo Cristiano, Director of Raw Material Procurement and Sustainability met with IIASA Director General and CEO, Professor Dr. Pavel Kabat and IIASA researchers to discuss the increasing scope of the Ferrero-IIASA partnership and explore relevant IIASA research.