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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
Hybrid products to optimize nutrition, taste, cost, and sustainability

Hybrid products are a promising means to improve the cost and sustainability of animal-derived meat while improving the taste of plant proteins. Promoting the health benefits of hybrids may facilitate…

 Cultivated icon Cultivated Fermentation icon Fermentation Plant-based icon Plant-Based Demand Generation End Products Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs End product formulation & manufacturing Ingredient optimization Species-agnostic Academics Industry Investors Startups Commercial Industry Science
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
Plant-based scaffolds to improve cultivated meat nutrition

A variety of plant-based scaffolds present the opportunity to combine the natural nutritional and structural benefits of plants with the taste and high protein of cultivated meat. Bacterial nanocellulose from…

 Cultivated icon Cultivated Plant-based icon Plant-Based End Products Investment Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs Bioprocess design End product formulation & manufacturing Scaffolding Species-agnostic Academics Industry Startups Commercial Research Industry Science
Animal-free, non-recombinant albumin and transferrin for cultivated meat

The identification of non-animal, non-recombinant proteins with similar functionality to serum albumin and transferrin will lead to major cost reductions in cell culture media development, facilitating progress toward achieving price…

 Cultivated icon Cultivated Plant-based icon Plant-Based Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs Cell culture media Crop development Target molecule selection Species-agnostic Academics Industry Investors Startups Commercial Research Industry Science
Animal ingredient substitution

Enabling easy animal ingredient substitutions in a wide range of food products.

 Cultivated icon Cultivated Fermentation icon Fermentation Plant-based icon Plant-Based End Products R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs End product formulation & manufacturing Ingredient optimization Species-agnostic Academics Industry Investors NGO’s Startups Commercial Research Industry Science
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 icon Plant-Based R&D Workforce Crop development End product formulation & manufacturing Ingredient optimization Species-agnostic Academics Donors GFI Industry NGO’s Startups Ecosystem 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 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
Build alternative protein sessions into scientific conferences

Elevating the visibility and credibility of the field at scientific conferences will expand the technical talent pipeline and amplify collaboration and funding efforts.

 Cultivated icon Cultivated Fermentation icon Fermentation Plant-based icon Plant-Based R&D Species-agnostic Academics GFI 2 – Early adoption Ecosystem Industry Science
Building interdisciplinary university research centers of excellence

Interdisciplinary research is essential for tackling many of the complex problems facing today’s world. Though the number of research projects advancing alternative protein science has increased in recent years, this…

 Cultivated icon Cultivated Fermentation icon Fermentation Plant-based icon Plant-Based R&D Workforce Species-agnostic Academics Donors Industry NGO’s Policymakers Startups 2 – Early adoption Ecosystem Industry Policy Science
Building alternative protein programs and majors at universities

To ensure a strong talent pipeline, there is a need to launch robust university programming, ranging from certificate programs to short multi-course modules, centered around alternative protein. Full majors would…

 Cultivated icon Cultivated Fermentation icon Fermentation Plant-based icon Plant-Based R&D Workforce Species-agnostic Academics GFI Ecosystem Industry 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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