Database of solutions for the alternative protein industry (2021)

45+Research opportunities

50+Commercial whitespaces

35+Ecosystem support needs

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Cultivated

Fermentation

Plant-Based

Opportunity	Production platform	Value chain segment	Technology sector	End product focus	Relevant actor	Solution category	Topic
Affordable animal-free omega-3 ingredients for alternative seafood and other alternative protein applications In order to appeal to health-conscious consumers, alternative seafood products should contain similar omega-3 fatty acids, especially DHA and EPA, content to conventional seafood. Animal-free omega-3 ingredients can be expensive…	Fermentation Plant-Based	Investment Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs	Bioprocess design Crop development Host strain development Ingredient optimization Target molecule selection	Seafood	Industry Investors Startups	Commercial	Industry
Life Cycle Assessment for alternative seafood relative to conventional fishing and aquaculture To date, no robust environmental assessments have been conducted to compare alternative seafood to its conventional counterparts. An open-access, quantitative analysis of the relative environmental impacts of alternative seafood will…	Cultivated Fermentation Plant-Based	Demand Generation Distribution Channels End Products Investment Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs		Seafood	Academics GFI Industry	Research	Science
Incorporating omega-3s into cultivated seafood Cultivated seafood will need to be supplemented with long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids to be nutritionally equivalent or superior to conventional seafood. However, how these compounds can best be incorporated…	Cultivated	Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs	Bioprocess design Cell culture media Cell line development End product formulation & manufacturing Scaffolding	Seafood	Academics Industry Startups	Commercial Research	Industry Science
Consumer and sensory research to guide alternative fish R&D Consumer and sensory research can help companies and academic researchers better understand seafood consumers’ needs and desires. Understanding consumers’ needs will allow alternative fish researchers to ask and prioritize the…	Cultivated Fermentation Plant-Based	End Products	End product formulation & manufacturing	Seafood	Academics Industry Startups	Commercial Research	Science
Preventing oxidation of omega-3 fatty acids before and after addition to alternative seafood products Deeper fundamental knowledge of the causes and prevention of oxidation of omega-3 fatty acids before, during, and after addition to alternative seafood products is needed to improve their nutritional and…	Cultivated Fermentation Plant-Based	End Products Investment Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs	Bioprocess design Crop development End product formulation & manufacturing Host strain development Ingredient optimization Target molecule selection	Seafood	Academics Industry Investors Startups	Research	Industry Science
Cell line development from food-relevant aquatic species A lack of publicly-available cell lines from relevant species and cell types continues to be a challenge for the field of cultivated seafood. Addressing this challenge will require further investigation…	Cultivated	R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs	Cell line development	Seafood	Academics Industry Startups	Research	Science
Novel methods for long-chain omega-3 fatty acid production As the alternative seafood industry scales up, a low-cost and abundant source of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids will become necessary. Several means of producing these compounds have been investigated…	Fermentation	R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs	Bioprocess design Host strain development Ingredient optimization Target molecule selection	Seafood	Academics Industry Startups	Research	Science
Decision matrix for seafood target species selection Creating an online, open-access decision matrix tool that ranks popular seafood-relevant species against each other based on several criteria such as market size, per-unit price, sustainability of conventional production practices,…	Cultivated Fermentation Plant-Based	Demand Generation End Products		Seafood	Academics GFI NGO’s	Ecosystem	Industry
Promoting stemness and proliferation in fish cell cultures Efficient and cost-effective cultivated fish production will require precise optimization to encourage fast proliferation and highly efficient use of inputs while preventing premature differentiation. A variety of strategies can be…	Cultivated	Production R&D	Cell culture media Cell line development	Seafood	Academics Industry Startups	Research	Science
Cultivated, fermentation-derived, or hybrid surimi There has been little publicly announced R&D and commercial effort to develop cultivated, fermentation-derived, or hybrid surimi. Compared to other meat products, surimi is likely to be by far one…	Cultivated Fermentation	End Products	End product formulation & manufacturing Target molecule selection	Seafood	Industry Investors Startups	Commercial Research	Science

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Review commercial whitespaces, research gaps, technological needs, and investment priorities at each stage of the alternative protein value chain.

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Executive summary

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Full report

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Alternative Protein Solutions Database