The UK is to open a National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre to bring new, environmentally friendly foods to market. The project, which will involve an investment of £38 million over the next five years, of which £15 million will be provided by the government, aims to create a pan-European innovation hub to ensure a continuous supply of safe, tasty, affordable and healthy proteins, which also support Net Zero targets and ensure the UK’s food and feed security. This initiative will deliver on the country’s plan announced last December, which included heavy investment in engineering biology.
The key players in the project
“This ground-breaking new centre is testament to the cutting-edge research into alternative proteins already underway at the University,” said Professor Nick Plant, Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the University of Leeds. The primary aim of this new institution will be to develop and drive the commercialisation of alternatives to animal proteins. The initiative has been built on a £38m investment from public and private sector players, including more than 100 stakeholders and companies both nationally and internationally. Of this, £15m has come from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Innovate UK – two of the government’s largest funding bodies – as the UK seeks to accelerate its net zero strategy. It will be based on collaboration between researchers from the University of Leeds, the James Hutton Institute, Imperial College London and the University of Sheffield.
An interconnected food research hub
The future food hub will be hosted by the James Hutton Institute, the University of Sheffield and Imperial College London, which is also home to one of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos’s Bezos Earth Fund’s sustainable protein hubs. Over 30 interdisciplinary researchers and over 120 partners (including farmers, small and large businesses and regulators) will work closely with industry, regulators, investors and policy makers to create an alternative protein innovation ‘ecosystem’ and produce a clear roadmap for the development of a UK national protein strategy. The centre will then aim to provide technical, business, regulatory and policy training, while promoting knowledge exchange through its international network of partners including the United Nations.
UK protein livelihoods and research
“A gradual transition to low-carbon alternative proteins with less reliance on animal agriculture is essential to ensuring sustainability and protein equity for all,” explained Professor Anwesha Sarkar, Director of Research and Innovation at the Leeds School of Food Science and Nutrition and lead of the Napic project. “Napic will provide a robust and sustainable platform for open innovation, responsible data exchange and collaboration with industry partners, regulators, academic partners and policy makers, capable of reducing the risks associated with this emerging sector and addressing the short and long-term concerns of consumers and producers,” he added in a statement. The United Kingdom therefore confirms itself absolutely open to cutting-edge realities given the presence of a large “seedling” of companies and budding realities that aim to involve the entire supply chain. Just look at realities such as Ivy Farm, Enough and Hoxton Farm, up to platforms such as Extracellular and MarraBio. Precisely for this reason the institutions are working, at the same time, on a strategic reform of the regulatory framework of regulated products.
This article is originally published on gamberorosso.it
