Alternative Protein Solutions Database
Discover ideas for new startups, commercial ventures and products, research projects, ecosystem support, and investment opportunities for plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-derived proteins.
Cultivated
Fermentation
Plant-Based
| Opportunity | Production platform | Value chain segment | Technology sector | End product focus | Relevant actor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Plant-based category marketing
Interest in plant-based products is growing, but many consumers still express skepticism about plant protein foods, or simply lack familiarity with the category. Category marketing campaigns to promote plant-based and… |
Cultivated
Fermentation
Plant-Based
|
Demand Generation Distribution Channels End Products | Seafood-relevant Species-agnostic | Donors Industry NGO’s Policymakers Startups | |
|
Facilitating import and export of alternative protein products
Many alternative protein companies are interested in exporting their products or ingredients, and this is matched by interest from businesses in many countries eager to import exciting products. But import/export… |
Cultivated
Fermentation
Plant-Based
|
Business Services Compliance Distribution Channels | Seafood-relevant Species-agnostic | Academics GFI Industry NGO’s Policymakers Startups | |
|
Animal ingredient substitution
Enabling easy animal ingredient substitutions in a wide range of food products. |
Cultivated
Fermentation
Plant-Based
|
End Products R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | End product formulation & manufacturing Ingredient optimization | Seafood-relevant Species-agnostic | Academics Industry Investors NGO’s Startups |
|
B2B growth factors for proliferation
There is a need for a supplier of low-cost growth factors produced without the use of animals to support the proliferation phase of cultivated meat production. The cost of growth… |
Cultivated
|
R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Cell culture media | Seafood-relevant | Industry Startups |
|
Plant-based protein makerspaces
Plant-based protein makerspaces would be publicly available spaces where interested members of the public could learn, experiment, and work collaboratively on projects related to plant-based proteins. They could offer access… |
Plant-Based
|
R&D Workforce | Crop development End product formulation & manufacturing Ingredient optimization | Species-agnostic | Academics Donors GFI Industry NGO’s Startups |
|
Cultivated meat makerspaces to promote public engagement
Both the cultivated meat industry and interested members of the general public would benefit from the creation of makerspaces focused on cultivated meat. These would be publicly available spaces where… |
Cultivated
|
R&D Workforce | Bioprocess design Cell culture media Cell line development Scaffolding | Species-agnostic | Academics Donors GFI Industry NGO’s Startups |
|
Alternative protein high school summer program
There is currently a lack of resources for high school students interested in alternative proteins. Students interested in entering this field would benefit from the creation of summer courses that… |
Cultivated
Fermentation
Plant-Based
|
Workforce | Species-agnostic | Academics GFI Industry NGO’s Startups | |
|
Improving affordability, nutrition, and organoleptic properties of cultivated meat through co-cultures with support cells
Skeletal muscle is composed of approximately 90% muscle fibers, along with adipose, connective, nervous, and vascular tissue (Listrat et al. 2016). Cultivated meat research focuses primarily on muscle fibers and… |
Cultivated
|
Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Bioprocess design Cell culture media Cell line development | Seafood-relevant | Academics Industry Startups |
|
B2B bioreactor technology company
Alternative protein companies would benefit from the availability of off-the-shelf or customizable bioreactors for cultivated meat and fermentation-derived products. This need could be filled by increased investment in and support… |
Cultivated
Fermentation
|
R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Bioprocess design | Species-agnostic | Industry Startups |
|
Biomaterials for scaffolding
A handful of companies and researchers are developing scaffold materials for use in various steps of the cultivated meat production process, but to date the topic of scaffolding has been… |
Cultivated
|
R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Scaffolding | Seafood-relevant | Academics Industry Startups |
Get involved
If you’d like to fund a research project, work on any of these solutions, share information about related efforts that are already underway, or elevate new ideas for advancing the alternative protein industry, we’d love to hear from you!
Explore key innovation priorities
Review commercial whitespaces, research gaps, technological needs, and investment priorities at each stage of the alternative protein value chain.
How we built this
Full report
Delve into the full report on the motivation, methodology, rationale, and key findings and recommendations of the Solutions initiative.
Futures wheels analysis
Explore our framework for uncovering second-order or third-order consequences and implications of hypothetical future scenarios to support better decision-making in the present.
Future-proofing
Discover key findings from GFI’s premortem analysis of potential threats to the widespread adoption of alternative proteins, including strategies to avoid or mitigate the most pressing risks.
