Monash Food Innovation partners with Vypr to put real-time consumer insight at the heart of Australia’s future food and FMCG product development

L-R: Abhsihek Banerjee, Sam Gilding, Alisha Mehnaz & Rod Heath (Photo credit: Carlson Ham)

MELBOURNE, 13 April 2026 – Monash Food Innovation (MFI) has partnered with global product intelligence and consumer insights platform Vypr to support innovation, product development and research across Australia’s food and FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) industry.

At its core, the collaboration is about giving students/future food innovators, researchers and industry partners working with Monash University and MFI access to real-time consumer insights, with the aim of training them to move fluidly between food science and consumer behaviour that determines whether a product earns a place on shelf.

Students currently enrolled in Monash University’s FSC5051 Innovation, Consumer Behaviour and Food Marketing unit as part of its Master of Food Science and Agribusiness programme have already started using Vypr as part of their final project submissions this semester.

Throughout their research and product development process, each student can test assumptions early, apply real-time consumer insight, make evidence-based decisions and iterate confidently as they develop their product concepts – an opportunity they previously wouldn’t typically have access to prior to entering the food and FMCG industry

MFI’s General Manager, Rod Heath, said, One of the persistent challenges in food and FMCG product development is the gap between technical performance and market relevance. A product can pass every sensory and stability benchmark and still miss the mark commercially. MFI exists to close the gap between what food science makes possible and what the market actually needs. That’s true for the students we teach and for the businesses we work with, and this partnership with Vypr strengthens our ability to do that in a very practical way. It means the work that happens here in classrooms, in labs and on industry projects, is more grounded in commercial reality than ever. That’s not just good for MFI. It’s good for the Australian food industry.”

Beyond student project work, the partnership also creates a pathway for MFI and Vypr to explore how agile research and consumer testing can be applied and taught in an Australian context, helping shape clearer benchmarks for the gold standard in product development.

Vypr’s International Chief Revenue Officer, Sam Gilding, said, “Food and FMCG teams are under pressure to move faster than ever. But, speed-to-market is only valuable when it’s guided by clarity. Too often, product development happens in a vacuum, with teams spending months perfecting something before they’ve heard a single consumer reaction. At Vypr, we believe it should work more like a rapid prototype loop: test early, learn fast and keep refining.

Partnering with the pioneering Monash Food Innovation hub is a way to bake that mindset into Australia’s next generation of food innovators, and to help lift the standard of how we do product research in this market.”

Beyond the classroom, MFI works directly with businesses across the full spectrum of Australia’s food sector, from early-stage start-ups and SMEs through to established multinationals navigating category competition and consumer change. Vypr’s platform is now available as part of MFI’s industry project offering, giving these partners a faster, more cost-effective route to what consumers think before committing to development or launch investment.

MFI and Vypr will also collaborate on research methodologies linked to agile product testing, with the aim of building best-practice frameworks and educational materials and supporting research outputs that can be shared more broadly across the food and FMCG industry over time.

Further information:
Aadi Krishna
Engagement Coordinator, Monash Food Innovation, Monash University
M: +61 451 778 467
Email: aadi.krishna@monash.edu