IDF Dairy Innovation Awards

The IDF Dairy Innovation Awards are designed to demonstrate the engagement and dynamism of the dairy sector worldwide, offering a unique platform to showcase innovative processes, practices and products that improve efficiency and contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Share this page

Background

The IDF Dairy Innovation Awards are hosted by the International Dairy Federation in partnership with world-leading food and drinks consultancy Zenith Global, with Headline sponsorship from Tetra Pak – a global leader in food processing and packaging solutions company. In its second edition, the IDF Dairy Innovation Awards received 173 entries from 26 countries, which shows that the Dairy Sector’s commitment with innovation and sustainability has no boundaries and may be found in every link of the milk and dairying production chain.

Topics

  • Innovation in sustainable farming practices: a) environment, b) animal care, c) socio-economic
  • Innovation in sustainable processing
  • Innovation in sustainable packaging
  • Innovation in new product development with focus on food safety and consumer nutrition
  • Innovation in Women empowerment in the dairy sector
  • Innovation in Climate Action
  • Innovation in Marketing & Communication initiative building dairy category

2023 IDF Dairy Innovation Awards Winners

Innovation in Sustainable Farming Practices – Environment

  • Bioret Agri– Aqualim Thermodynamic: the first climatised waterbed to fight heat stress for dairy cows, while harvesting the animal’s body energy.
  • Dairy Australia– Environmental Tracker: allows farmers to assess their farm’s performance and identify improvement opportunities that are interconnected with natural capital asset management and natural resources.

 

Innovation in Sustainable Farming Practices – Animal Care

  • FaunaTech – FaunaTech: a novel smartphone-based handheld diagnostics platform for early detection of critical diseases, monitoring cattle health and screening milk quality at the farm level and reducing antibiotic usage.

 

Innovation in Sustainable Farming Practices – Socio-Economic

  • DanoneAlgeria: Transforming the Food System by Empowering Algerian Smallholder Farmers: The H’lib Dzair Project supports rural development in Algeria, improves the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, strengthened local dairy value chains, and reduced farms’ ecological footprints, making the Algerian dairy sector more resilient and enabling Algeria to be less dependent on imported milk.

 

Innovation in Sustainable Processing

  • Hochschule Hanover– Development of a RO-NF-UF membrane cascade to concentrate skim milk to a dry matter of > 48%: this innovative approach resulted in the highest concentration factor of milk that was ever achieved without the use of evaporation.

 

Innovation in Marketing & Communication Initiative Building Dairy Category

  • Dairy Farmers of Canada– We’re In: the campaign, called “I’m in” told Canadian consumers about DFC’s Net Zero by 2050 commitment through a creative storytelling method that reflected the personal commitment of individual dairy farmer.

Innovation in New Product Development With Focus on Food Safety and Consumer Nutrition

  • Unison Process Solutions– Heist System: the HEIST system is the world’s first automatic testing system for plate and tubular heat exchangers.
  • Yili Group Ltd– Ambient Cheese Lollipop: this product utilizes natural bioactive antibacterial ingredients and scientifically combines them with preservatives to extend the product shelf life and ensure its safety during storage. It uses dual technologies to guarantee the quality, safety, and nutrition of the ambient cheese lollipop production process.

 

Innovation in Sustainable Packaging

  • Yili Group Ltd– Declaring Your Love to the Earth with Actions – SATINE Environmentally Sustainable Packaging with No Ink or Printing.

 

Innovation in Women Empowerment in the Dairy Sector

  • Shreeja Milk– Shreeja Milk:  with its impressive membership of 120,000 women, boasts the world’s largest women base in the dairy industry. Shreeja has implemented several initiatives and programs aimed at enhancing female leadership and empowering women within the dairy sector.

 

Innovation in Climate Action

  • Lactanet and Semex, Canada: In April 2023, Lactanet Canada launched the world’s first official genetic evaluation to decrease methane emissions in dairy cattle. This was achieved through years of research and development during which methane emissions and routine milk tests were recorded on dairy cows in Canadian research herds.

It is important for IDF to stimulate and share light on innovative practices and processes in the global dairy sector

Related reports & publications

IDF provides a permanent source of authoritative scientific and other information on a whole range of topics relevant to the dairy sector.

Learn more about our work

The breadth of issues IDF covers in its work is extensive. Learn more about the value of the work we do.

Dairy’s Global Impact

Year after year, generation after generation, milk and dairy foods continue to be a trusted source o...

Read More

Nutrition & Health

Scientific evidence supports the importance of milk and dairy products as part of healthy diets

Read More

School Milk Knowledge Hub

Contributing to the good health and nutrition of school children around the world

Read More

Dairy Declaration of Rotterdam

A formal commitment by the dairy sector to contribute to the achievement of key Sustainable Developm...

Read More

Background