The market for sustainable proteins is growing rapidly, in both the Netherlands and Singapore, creating significant collaboration opportunities for entrepreneurs. A recent innovation scan, by Foodvalley NL and Enterprise Singapore (the key government agency developing Singapore as a startup hub) absolutely confirms this. The scan-report was presented during the Foodvalley Summit Protein Shift, on October 13, 2020.

“The Netherlands and Singapore are international leaders in R&D and knowledge-intensive systems, and there are many innovative players in the sustainable proteins market,” says Miranda van Dijck, Foodvalley Innovation Analyst closely involved in the innovation scan. “This makes them interesting dialogue partners.”

Collaboration

According to Van Dijck, there are plenty of opportunities for cooperation between the two countries. “Think of the development of new production processes and technologies, but also co-branding and co-manufacturing,” she illustrates.

Some parties in the Netherlands and Singapore are already working together. Singapore start-up Shiok Meats, which cultures shrimp meat, recently received a total of US$12.6 million through the Dutch investment fund Aqua-Spark and SEEDS Capital, Enterprise Singapore’s investment arm.

Deeper understanding

Through this innovation scan, Foodvalley NL and Enterprise Singapore aim to develop a deeper mutual understanding of each other’s ecosystems, identify market opportunities, and catalyze further exchanges and innovation partnerships between Dutch and Singapore institutions and businesses.

Growth market

In both Singapore and the Netherlands, the market for sustainable proteins is growing, mainly driven by sustainability and health concerns. “Developments are particularly rapid in the meat substitutes category,” says Van Dijck. Vegetable snacks and ready meals are also on the rise in both countries, but especially in Singapore.

Alternative protein sources

The report highlights several companies extracting proteins from alternative sources such as algae, insects and residual flows (e.g. okara, from soy and tofu production), as well as applications based on cell cultures (cultured meat) and fermentation technologies.

Ecosystem

The report also provides an overview of the key players in the ecosystem – the incubators, accelerators and investors, who are supporting the growth of innovative startups in the alternative protein space. In addition, it lists shared facilities – from pilot to industrial scale – for both countries. “This will help companies, who want to scale-up production of alternative protein ingredients and end-products, to identify relevant infrastructure support without the need for heavy setup costs during the initial phases,” says Van Dijck.

Free download

Members of Foodvalley will receive a link to a free download of the report.

Foodvalley membership

Foodvalley member companies have access to the best knowledge, knowledge suppliers, partners and a large (inter)national business network to accelerate innovation and growth. More information about the Foodvalley Membership.

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Innovation scan of the Netherlands and New Zealand: market for sustainable protein still growing

Three interesting concepts for plant-based products, new millennial consumer insights and lots of inspiration are the outcomes of a two-month collaboration project between Swiss-based M-Industry and a multidisciplinary team of Wageningen Masters students. M-Industry has integrated the input into their strategic analysis and is establishing a follow-up project.

M-Industry, part of the Migros Group – Switzerland’s largest food retailer – produces over 20,000 high-quality food and non-food products, making it one of the largest own-brand producers in the world. “We are currently expanding our plant-based portfolio and have joined Foodvalley to accelerate our innovation efforts”, says Innovation Program Manager Stefania Bellaio.

Academic Consultancy Training

It was via the Foodvalley Update newsletter that Bellaio and her colleagues learnt about the possibility of a collaboration with students from Wageningen University. “Most Masters students in Wageningen follow an Academic Consultancy Training, in which they work together in a project with students from different backgrounds and nationalities,” she explains. “Industry partners can submit a project, and students who are interested can show their interest. The university then puts together a team.”

Foodvalley NL facilitated the contact with Migros and Wageningen University, and helped increase the company’s brand awareness in and around Wageningen.

Next generation of plant-based products

‘Develop a next generation of plant-based products, come up with innovative concepts, suitable ingredients and processing technologies, and provide an outline for a communication and marketing strategy’ was the company’s request to the 7-person student team. The students, with skills covering nutrition and health, food technology, and communication & innovation, had two months to do their research, compile a report and present their findings.

Innovative approach

They impressed Bellaio and her colleagues with their end findings and their academic knowledge and professionalism. “The students presented three very interesting product concepts, substantiated by solid scientific insights and statistical analyses, and gave us a better understanding of the motivation and behavior of the millennial and “Z” generation –important target groups for us”, she illustrates. “They were also very innovative in how they collected consumer information. For example, they organized a survey, via Facebook, and announced it via different social media. They also held interviews with local restaurants to gain a better understanding of the specific market and consumers preferences when it comes to plant-based ingredients.”

M-Industry has integrated the students’ input into their strategic business analysis. “Their work has also inspired us to initiate new initiatives targeted at their generation Z,” says Bellaio.

Catalyst

For the Innovation Program Manager, the Foodvalley membership has already proven its value. “Foodvalley has been the catalyst for this student project as well as connecting us with interesting start-ups, within and beyond the field of plant-based proteins”, she says.

The new academic year will see, for certain, another ACT project provided by M-Industry. “We are looking forward to yet another new perspective.” Bellaio advises other Foodvalley members to follow their example. “Get involved, give the students the freedom to come up with their ideas and discover what will happen.”

As The Protein Cluster, we took the initiative to bring together insights of the plant protein market and to share our own view on the potential of this market. We have marked some opportunities in plant-based food products and also highlighted the split in ingredients that this market requires. We see a plant protein ingredient gap coming up, which can be a challenge to this tremendously growing market. However, within our cluster (and not limited to) we see many ingredient companies jumping into this huge potential.

Check out the full infographic with insights by downloading it here.

On Wednesday April 22 The Protein Cluster & Protein Directory hosted a webinar about The latest plant protein ingredients. Now you can watch it online!

A combination of sharing insights and making new business connections on the topic “the latest plant protein ingredients”. In the plenary start and during various ingredient pitches you are updated on the latest protein ingredients. Below you can find the program.

Program

Welcome by Protein Directory & The Protein Cluster
Overview of developments in the plant protein market by Jeroen Willemsen, The Protein Cluster

Ingredient pitches (5 min each)
1. Fava beans and application, by Multiflour and MFH pulses
2. Algae, by Spira
3. Moringa, by AnuLife
4. Algae ingredients by Phycom
5. Side stream valorization into protein ingredients, by Cosun
6. Fungi-based vegan protein by Mycorena
7. Innovative quinoa ingredients by GreenFood50

From onion peeling to cabbage leaves and water lentils: in their brand new multifunctional plant in Raalte (The Netherlands), Rubisco Foods, Foodvalley Member, are processing various types of vegetable residual streams into ‘green’ protein and other high-quality ingredients. The factory was officially opened on 5 March 2020 by Tijs de Bree, a representative of the Province of Overijssel.

High quality, sustainable protein concentrates

Rubisco Foods produces high-quality food-grade ingredients using products from local growers and residual flows from the vegetable processing industry: vegetable, clean label and organic (Skal) certified. “Imagine protein concentrate from water lentils, suitable for meat substitutes and protein shakes, with a protein percentage of up to 75% and an amino acid composition comparable to that of whey,” illustrates Hans Derksen, co-founder and director of Rubisco. Another example is protein concentrate from onions, which contain umami components that can be used as flavour enhancers in, for example, salt-reduced products.