UTEK’s Strategos and wRatings Innovation Index Identifies the Most Innovative Food & Beverage Companies

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UTEK Corporation (NYSE Amex: UTK), a leading IP licensing and innovation services company, and The wRatings Corporation, an independent stock research firm, announced today the results of their quarterly Strategos/wRatings Innovation Index, with the focus of this issue on the food and beverage industry. The study was conducted in a collaborative effort between the wRatings Corporation and Strategos, the strategic innovation consulting division of UTEK.

“Customers today are so much smarter about how they pick and choose what products to buy”

Coca-Cola came out on top, but the remainder of the top 10 proved that size really doesn’t matter to the consumer. Number two on the list is Cadbury. No doubt, Cadbury’s innovativeness was a top rationale for the interest from its now soon-to-be parent, Kraft. Others in the top 10 include giants like PepsiCo and Unilever mixed with small cap players like American Italian Pasta Company, Glacier Water Services, and Lifeway Foods.

Food and Beverage Innovators Go beyond the Product to find innovation

This quarter, the SW Innovation Index ranked innovation performance of food and beverage companies. Throughout the top 10, we see many top innovators go beyond product extensions, creating value for consumers and shareholders through business model innovation. These companies made significant strides in shifting the competitive battle-ground from retail shelves to consumers’ home-spaces through things like novel packaging solutions, adding the benefit of improving health and beauty “from within” to traditional food items, and expanding the locations and ways foods can be consumed for time-starved consumers.

“More product variation does not necessarily equate to innovation,” states Peter Skarzynski, Managing Director of Strategos and author of Innovation to the Core (HBSP, 2008). “When you can shift the battleground, like many of these top 10 companies have done, it means you have done some thinking at the business model level that allows you to challenge orthodoxies and then allow, or even promote, breakthrough thinking that leads to innovation.”

“Customers today are so much smarter about how they pick and choose what products to buy,” explains Gary A. Williams, CEO and Founder of wRatings. “They love something creative, unique and cool, but won’t buy unless they trust the company behind it. As this quarter’s index proves, the race for Food & Beverage innovation can be won whether a company is big or small, if they understand how to build both a great product and a great company.” 67 companies were included in this edition of the Innovation Index. All received an Innovation Index rating, with 100 equaling the most innovative.

Rank	Company	Ticker	Strategos/wRatings Innovation Index
1	The Coca-Cola Company	NYSE: KO	78.04
2	Cadbury plc	NYSE: CBY	76.34
3	American Italian Pasta Company	NASDAQ: AIPC	76.25
4	Hansen Natural Corporation	NASDAQ: HANS	76.24
5	Unilever Group	NYSE:UL, NYSE: UN	75.89
6	Lifeway Foods, Inc.	NASDAQ: LWAY	75.54
7	Glacier Water Services, Inc.	OTC: GWSV	75.30
8	PepsiCo, Inc	NYSE: PEP	75.26
9	Campbell Soup Company	NYSE: CPB	74.93
10	Tootsie Rolls Industries, Inc.	NYSE: TR	74.78
11	Kellogg Company	NYSE: K	74.59
12	General Mills, Inc.	NYSE: GIS	74.58
13	The Hershey Company	NYSE: HSY	74.50
14	H.J. Heinz Company	NYSE: HNZ	74.36
15	McCormick & Company, Inc.	NYSE: MKC	74.28
16	NutriSystem, Inc.	NASDAQ: NTRI	74.19
17	The J.M. Smucker Company	NYSE: SJM	73.64
18	Cott Corporation	NYSE: COT	73.59
19	Herbalife Ltd.	NYSE: HLF	73.59
20	Del Monte Foods Company	NYSE: DLM	73.47

The report is available at www.strategos.com or www.wratings.com. Detailed ranking and score data are available to wRatings subscribers.

Based on the principle that the end-customers are the final arbiter of a company’s innovation performance, the SW Innovation Index is based on end-consumers’ feedback on tangible benefits and emotional rewards they received from a wide range of companies. The index is a composite of seven attributes from wRatings’ robust and rigorous consumer feedback data. These seven attributes and their respective weighting were selected by leveraging the collective experience Strategos accumulated while helping clients build a competence in innovation. The data collection process, SW Innovation Index computation, and write-up of this report were conducted independently of any company in this survey, and no company was offered an opportunity to preview or edit the report. While Strategos and wRatings have performed work for and may be in business development discussion with companies mentioned in this report, we maintain objectivity of the report by assuring that no staff involved in this report worked on projects for any companies rated in this report in the last 24 months.

About UTEK Corporation

UTEK^® is a leading global IP licensing and innovation services company. UTEK’s services enable its clients to enhance their innovation capabilities, rapidly source externally developed technologies, create value from their intellectual property and gain foresight into marketplace and technology developments that could affect their business. Strategos is a strategic innovation consulting division of UTEK. Strategos^® helps clients innovate and grow by bringing innovation to their core business and organization. For more information about UTEK and Strategos, please visit www.utekcorp.com and www.strategos.com.

About wRatings Corporation

The wRatings Corporation is an independent stock research firm based in metro Washington, DC. The company was founded by Harvard Business Review author and research expert, Gary A. Williams. He and his team continually study consumer and executive buying behavior to project the future earnings performance of companies. Since 1999, their original set of leading indicators helps investors, corporations and consultants improve their performance by using a common framework to measure the competitive strength of companies. For more information about wRatings, please visit its website at www.wRatings.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain matters discussed in this press release are “forward-looking statements." These forward-looking statements can generally be identified as such because the context of the statement will include words, such as UTEK, Strategos or wRatings "expects," "should," "believes," "anticipates" or words of similar import. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated. Certain factors could cause results and conditions to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. These factors are not exhaustive. New factors, risks and uncertainties may emerge from time to time that may affect the forward-looking statements made herein. These forward-looking statements are only made as of the date of this press release and UTEK does not undertake any obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. This press release is available on the Company’s website at www.utekcorp.com.