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
Cultivated
Fermentation
Plant-Based
| Opportunity | Production platform | Value chain segment | Technology sector | End product focus | Relevant actor | Maturity level | Solution category | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Naturally adhesive and edible non-animal scaffolding materials
There is a limited number of edible non-animal scaffold materials that are naturally adhesive for use in cultivated meat production. Identifying a larger and more diverse set of these materials,… |
Cultivated
|
Scaffolding | Seafood-relevant | Science | ||||
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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
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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 | |
|
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
Plant-Based
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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 | |
|
Semi-continuous bioprocess for whole cut cultivated meat using simultaneous perfusion and stretch
Stretching of engineered muscle constructs has been previously demonstrated to induce alignment and maturation of muscle fibers, which is desirable for whole cut cultivated meat. Stretch stimuli could also be… |
Cultivated
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Production R&D | Bioprocess design Scaffolding | Terrestrial-specific | Academics Industry Startups | Commercial Research | Industry Science | |
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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
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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 | |
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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
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R&D Workforce | Bioprocess design Cell culture media Cell line development Scaffolding | Species-agnostic | Academics Donors GFI Industry NGO’s Startups | Ecosystem Research | Science | |
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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
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R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Scaffolding | Seafood-relevant | Academics Industry Startups | Commercial Research | Industry Science | |
|
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
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R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Cell line development Scaffolding | Seafood | Academics Industry Startups | 0 – Complete whitespace | Commercial Research | Science |
|
“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
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End Products | Bioprocess design Cell line development Scaffolding | Seafood | Industry Startups | 0 – Complete whitespace | Commercial | Industry |
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.