From Science to Innovation – the Mars Way

When most people think of Mars, they think of their favorite confectionary and gum brands, dinnertime food staples, pet nutrition products and veterinary health services.

What they may not think about is science. Yet after more than 25 years at Mars, I know that science is at the center of everything we do. The Mars Global Food Safety Center, for example, was created in 2015 with the bold ambition of helping to address some of the world’s most significant food safety challenges – from aflatoxins to the integrity of increasingly complex global food supply chains. Similarly, for approaching 60 years the Waltham Petcare Science Institute has been advancing research into the nutrition and health of pets and the special relationship between pets and people, publishing over 1,000 peer-reviewed papers on these topics.

In other words, Mars takes science seriously. Our commitment to science enables us to make informed decisions based on sound evidence when creating the highest quality products and services. And more broadly, it enables us to contribute to a better future that's healthier and more sustainable for communities across the globe. 

The science – innovation continuum

In a recent keynote presentation at the University Industry Demonstration Partnership’s 2021 event, I spoke about the Mars roadmap from science to innovation. For many people, these two terms are virtually synonymous. But at Mars, we know that innovation is a complex process: it involves taking science discoveries and turning them into relevant consumer and customer solutions, products, services and even processes that allow us to resolve for real world problems.

And we know that we cannot do this alone.

Moving from science to innovation nearly always requires partnerships and collaboration. At UIDP Virtual 2021, I explained how the organization I lead, the Mars Advanced Research Institute (MARI), helps move Mars from science to innovation.

Composed of about a dozen people, MARI is small yet mighty. Our mission is to connect Mars with emerging science and technology to spark discoveries that re-invent the future of our business through applications that enable the world we want tomorrow. Our team therefore seek out scientific and technological opportunities, which we explore in collaboration with our global network of external research partners, to develop breakthroughs for Mars, our people and the planet.

Our system for turning science into innovation is complex and robust – and collaboration is a fundamental part of it. Academic and public-private partnerships are a great opportunity to share real-life challenges, tap into expertise to drive cross-discipline and cross-industry pollination, and re-purpose existing technology from other industries to drive innovation in our own.    

And you don’t need to look far to find a few examples:

• For over a decade, MARI and Mars Wrigley have been working with a global team of researchers from the University of California, Davis’ Innovation Institute for Food and Health (IIFH), The Ohio State University, Nagoya University, the University of Avignon and SISSA University to tackle one of the longest-standing challenges in the food industry: creating a natural blue food colorant that is as vibrant as its artificial counterparts. They recently found a solution – in red cabbage! – which now has the potential to truly transform the way the food industry approaches natural blue colorants. Earlier this month, the results of this exciting discovery were published in Science Advances, and you can find out more about it in these blog posts published by my colleagues John Didzbalis and Rebecca Robbins.
• Together with WWF, UC Davis, AUDA-NEPAD and World Agroforestry, MARI was a founding member of the African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC): an organization working to improve economically and socio-culturally important crops that have been neglected by science – also known as “orphan crops”. The AOCC is training local African scientists to sequence the genomes of 101 African crops. This will make it easier, cheaper and faster for plant breeders to market new crops with higher yield, better nutrition and greater resistance to disease, pests and climate change.
• In collaboration with partners, including UC Davis, Thermo Fisher Scientific and the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa, MARI launched the Foldit Aflatoxin Challenge. The aim was to encourage gamers to design an enzyme that could degrade aflatoxin – a highly poisonous natural product made by certain fungi, which can contaminate food crops. The challenge can be played by anyone with a computer and an imagination – and players have produced more than 1 million designs so far, leading to the discovery of 10 new enzymes that appear capable of detoxifying aflatoxin.

So, next time you think about Mars, please do think about your favorite confectionary product or trusted pet care brand. But I also encourage you to think about the science and innovation behind them too – the Mars way!

You can find out more about the Mars approach to science here.