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.
Additional Filters
Opportunity | Production platform | Value chain segment | Technology sector | End product focus | Relevant actor | Maturity level | Solution category | Topic |
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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 | |
Catalog of animal meat flavors
Creating a catalog of molecules responsible for the characteristic flavor of a species will enable alternative protein product manufacturers to create products that more accurately replicate the sensory experience of… |
Cultivated Fermentation Plant-Based | End Products Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Crop development End product formulation & manufacturing Ingredient optimization Target molecule selection | Seafood-relevant | Academics GFI Industry NGO’s Startups | Commercial Ecosystem Research | Industry Science | |
Developing scalable, fit-for-purpose bioreactor and bioprocessing technologies for cultivated meat
Optimizing bioreactor and bioprocessing technologies for the needs of the cultivated meat industry has the potential to substantially reduce the cost of cultivated meat production. Innovations in cultivated meat bioprocessing… |
Cultivated | Production R&D | Bioprocess design | Species-agnostic | Academics Industry Startups | Commercial 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 | |
Optimizing fat profiles for nutritional and sensory properties
Because alternative meat’s fat content and fatty acid profile can be more easily controlled than conventional meat’s, there is an opportunity to alter fat content for nutritional benefits. Additional research… |
Cultivated Fermentation Plant-Based | End Products Production R&D | Cell culture media End product formulation & manufacturing Target molecule selection | Seafood-relevant | Academics Industry Startups | Commercial Research | Science | |
Mapping animal cell metabolism to optimize media formulation
The cost and environmental impact of cultivated meat are driven by the cell culture media formulation and its conversion efficiency into meat. Metabolic modeling and engineering techniques can aid media… |
Cultivated | Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Cell culture media Cell line development | Species-agnostic | Academics Industry Startups | Commercial Research | ||
Incorporating growth factors into scaffolds to reduce costs and introduce spatial heterogeneity
Growth factors (GFs) can be incorporated into scaffolds as a strategy for both reducing costs and improving product quality of cultivated meat. Open-access research is needed to test the feasibility… |
Cultivated | End Products Production R&D | Scaffolding | Seafood-relevant | Academics Industry Startups | Commercial Research | ||
Scaffolds and structural approaches to optimize fat distribution and content in cultivated meat
The inclusion of fat and marbling in cultivated meat is likely to increase its flavor, texture, and consumer appeal. Structural approaches using edible microcarriers, hydrogels, and 3D bioprinting present promising… |
Cultivated | End Products Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Bioprocess design End product formulation & manufacturing Scaffolding | Species-agnostic | Academics Industry Startups | Commercial Research | Industry Science | |
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 Fermentation 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 | |
B2B media development company
The cultivated meat industry needs dedicated suppliers of low-cost, food-grade cell culture media to reduce cultivated meat production costs. Close collaboration between the customer and supplier will be required in… |
Cultivated | R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Cell culture media | Seafood-relevant | Industry Investors Startups | Commercial Research |
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
Executive summary
Get an overview of GFI’s Solutions initiative and a summary of key resources.
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.