Annie Xie, Director of Marketing at Wincom Company's Food Division. Holding an MBA from Sun Yat-sen University, she possesses nearly two decades of experience in market strategy, having served at numerous renowned domestic and multinational corporations across diverse sectors including pharmaceuticals and health supplements, animal husbandry and agriculture, food ingredients, food packaging, and testing. She specialises particularly in market insights and B2B marketing strategy within the food-related industries. In recent years, she has focused on flavour trend research. Leveraging her keen insight into market dynamics and product innovation, she has provided precise flavour trend analysis and bespoke strategic solutions for multiple brands.
Across the global beverage industry, innovation is shifting from single-point breakthroughs to parallel validation of product concepts. Diverse consumer needs, processing technologies, and flavor systems are creating new growth opportunities—while placing higher demands on R&D and application design.
The FBIF2026 Concept Product Launch does not define a single challenge. Instead, it highlights four high-relevance innovation pathways, giving shortlisted participants the flexibility to choose the direction best aligned with their strengths and to present commercially applicable product concepts that respond to real market needs.
Four Innovation Pathways
1 | Sports Nutrition
As the sports nutrition market continues to expand, innovation is moving beyond powders and shakes toward RTD, daily-use, and low-burden beverages. This pathway focuses on proteins, amino acids, electrolytes, and functional blends, with emphasis on taste, stability, and usage scenarios.
2 | HPP & Cold-Pressed Technology
With growing demand for minimally processed products, HPP technology is gaining traction across juices, functional beverages, and premium RTDs. This pathway explores flavor retention, formulation stability, and differentiated expression under HPP processing.
3 | Coffee Ingredient & Application Innovation
Coffee is evolving into a broader ingredient system spanning flavor, functionality, and everyday occasions. This pathway highlights innovative uses of coffee ingredients in RTD, functional, low-burden, and cross-category applications.
4 | Flavor & Sensory Innovation
Flavor has become a key driver of emotional connection and consumption context. This pathway encourages distinctive flavors, regional profiles, and multi-sensory designs, exploring how flavor can define product identity and competitiveness.