Kikkoman Foods Inc. will establish a research and development laboratory as well as an environmental studies scholarship in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The new lab, which will open this fall, will be located at University Research Park in Madison. It will be led by one of the company’s research scientists from its research and development facility in Noda, Japan.
“This laboratory will become an important part of our worldwide R&D network,” said Yuzaburo Mogi, chairman and CEO of Kikkoman Corp., at a press conference in Milwaukee.
“We chose Madison after a careful evaluation — in large part because it has access to key resources such as highly experienced researchers in our field. And it is rapidly becoming a center for high technology ventures in the food industry.”
The company also announced that the Kikkoman Foundation is granting $100,000 to the UW to be used for environmental studies scholarships at the college’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Any undergraduate student pursuing environmental studies through the institute will be eligible for the annual grant, although preference will be given to students from Wisconsin’s Walworth County, home of Kikkoman’s first U.S.-based manufacturing facility for naturally brewed soy sauce.