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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.

45+Research opportunities
50+Commercial whitespaces
35+Ecosystem support needs

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Key: Cultivated icon Cultivated Fermentation icon Fermentation Plant-based icon Plant-Based
Opportunity Production platform Value chain segment Technology sector End product focus Relevant actor Maturity level 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 icon Fermentation Plant-based icon 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 icon Cultivated Fermentation icon Fermentation Plant-based icon 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 icon 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
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 icon Cultivated Fermentation icon Fermentation Plant-based icon 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
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 icon Cultivated Fermentation icon Fermentation Plant-based icon Plant-Based Demand Generation End Products Seafood Academics GFI NGO’s Ecosystem Industry
“Rainbow roll 2.0” showcase for cultivated seafood

Given the nascent market for cultivated meats, especially for cultivated seafood, a “Rainbow Roll 2.0” product could be an attractive market-entry commercial product.

 Cultivated icon Cultivated End Products Bioprocess design Cell line development Scaffolding Seafood Industry Startups 0 – Complete whitespace Commercial Industry
Scaffolding development for culinary and biomechanical requirements of cultivated seafood

A number of published studies have focused on scaffolds for cultivated meat (see Related Efforts) yet, to our knowledge, no studies have specifically attempted to formulate scaffolds for fish or…

 Cultivated icon Cultivated R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs Cell line development Scaffolding Seafood Academics Industry Startups 0 – Complete whitespace Commercial 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 icon Fermentation R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs Bioprocess design Host strain development Ingredient optimization Target molecule selection Seafood Academics Industry Startups Research Science
Species-specific genomic studies enabling assay development for regulatory standards and cell line optimization

A suite of assays and genomic knowledge exists for humans and commonly used laboratory species such as mice or fruit flies. However, the same species-specific infrastructure does not exist equally…

 Cultivated icon Cultivated R&D Cell line development Seafood-relevant Academics Industry Research Science
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 icon Cultivated Production R&D Cell culture media Cell line development Seafood Academics Industry Startups Research Science

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!

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Explore key innovation priorities

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

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How we built this

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Executive summary

Get an overview of GFI’s Solutions initiative and a summary of key resources.

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Full report

Delve into the full report on the motivation, methodology, rationale, and key findings and recommendations of the Solutions initiative.

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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.

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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.

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