From June 14-16, the 15th Global Dairy Congress was hosted in Laval, France. 
Dr. Zhanyou Yun, Assistant President of Yili Group, attended the "Innovation 
for the Future" session, delivering a keynote speech with the theme "Create 
Value through Innovation". Dr. Gerrit Smit, Managing Director of Yili 
Innovation Center Europe, attended the roundtable discussion.

The World Dairy Innovation Awards was held simultaneously with the Congress. 
Leveraging strategic synergies and resource integration, Yili Group and its 
subsidiary Ausnutria topped the tally with six awards, covering segments of 
packaging design, infant nutrition, intolerance-friendly dairy products, ice 
cream, cheese and dairy snacks.

One of the judges commented, "Yili have their finger on the pulse when it comes 
to identifying gaps in the market and creating brilliant innovative products 
that both taste and look great while simultaneously serving a purpose."

Dr. Yun explained how Yili has focused on building a globally integrated 
innovation network, which helped the company win worldwide recognition. 
"Integrating talent and intelligence resources, we have currently set up a 
total of 15 innovation centers scattered around the world, and a 'global 
intelligence chain' has now been established."

Developing health products through consumer-centric innovation

"Guided by our New Vision for Value Creation, Yili pursues development as an 
innovation-driven company. We are dedicated to launching health products to 
meet the full life-cycle, all-scenario needs among all types of consumers," 
said Dr. Yun.

For consumers to freely enjoy cheese without storage limitations, Yili 
developed the "Best Cheese" winner -- the ambient cheese lollipop, which is 
rich in nutrition and can be safely stored at room temperature. Revisiting 
traditional Chinese aesthetics, the Xujinhuan 3D Fresh Milk Ice Cream has been 
designed into the elegant shape of a Chinese fan, featuring traditional 
painting carved on the surface. Developed with global high-quality milk and 
ingredients, the beautiful look is also accompanied by good flavor and 
nutrition. For middle-aged and the elderly men, a group more focused on bone 
health and physical fitness, the Shuhua Lactose -- Free Milk for Dad includes 
50% more natural calcium, vitamin D and taurine. Applying Yili's patented 
technology of LHT lactose hydrolysis, the product also addresses the problem of 
lactose intolerance that is common among Asian consumers.

At the Congress, Dr. Yun also shared the company's progress in building a 
"Dairy Silicon Valley". In June, four key projects of Yili's Future 
Intelligence and Healthy Valley will be put into operation in Hohhot, Inner 
Mongolia Autonomous Region, including a liquid milk production base, a milk 
powder production base, the Chilechuan Ecological Smart Farm, and the Yili 
Intelligent Manufacturing Experience Center.

Commitment to building a net -zero carbon future

Talking about dairy's role in addressing climate change, Dr. Yun said, 
"Embracing the tide of sustainable development across the globe, Yili has 
rolled out net-zero carbon products and factories, issued the Roadmap to a 
Net-Zero Carbon Future, and joined hands with our partners throughout the 
industrial chain to build a net-zero carbon future." 

In April, Yili took the lead in China's food industry to launch time-bound 
targets on carbon reduction, aiming to realize industrial chain-wide carbon 
neutrality before 2050. 

On June 5, Yili also introduced the packaging featuring "no printing, less 
ink". Applying the technology of ink reduction printing, the packaging is able 
to save ink consumption by 60%. The outer carton is 80% made up of recycled 
paper. By upgrading into paper handles, every 100,000 outer cartons will reduce 
plastic usage equating to 260 kg.

Source: Yili Group

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   Caption: Yili won six world dairy innovation awards.