For over thirty years, the Center for Dairy Research has supported the dairy products industry through basic research, product development, technical assistance, regulatory information and education. (www.cdr.wisc.edu) Located on the UW-Madison campus, CDR is interested in working with SBIR applicants seeking to address problems/opportunities involved in the development of dairy based food and beverage products.
CDR’s support is helpful when applying for a SBIR from USDA and/or a STTR through NSF. These types of applications are often developed to respond to such challenges as:
- Developing more health-oriented food or beverage products for specific target markets.
- Help dairy farmers by creating new “value added” products that include a dairy ingredient. Potential outcomes from this would be to help small dairy products companies in rural areas pay “family supporting” wages. This in turn provides economic support to rural economies.
- Develop nutritional food and beverage options for people with such medical problems as dysphagia.
CDR, through its TURBO Program (www.turbo.cdr.wisc.edu) can assist and applicant in several ways:
- Serve as a technical partner in the applicant’s development process using technical expertise to assist the applicant in determining the feasibility of their Phase I proposal.
- Develop project objectives, strategies, benchmarks and parameters that can be included in grant proposals.
- In a Phase II proposal, CDR can assist in dealing with regulatory concerns, clean labeling suggestions and production scale up. We can also assist in finding co-packers or production space to support the applicant during the commercialization process.
Through this process, technical information and communications are free of charge. Product and/or sensory trials are billed at cost. CDR will work with the applicant in defining a scope of work, appropriate processes and procedures as well as a written report with follow-up recommendations.
For more information, please contact Vic Grassman, TURBO Program Manager , 608-512-6661,
