Agrifood companies and Invest-NL join forces for the protein transition

The protein transition is not just about technology, but primarily about collaboration. From startups and technology developers to producers, retailers, and financiers: only when the entire chain moves together do sustainable proteins really have a chance. Promising innovations often get stuck between lab and market. To better understand where the issues lie, Invest-NL spoke with Goodberries and among others Royal Cosun, Bieze Food Group, and Lidl. What emerged was: the ambition is high, but collaboration along the chain remains fragile.

There is plenty of innovation in the food chain, but many promising initiatives do not make it to the market. Not because the technology fails, but because supply chain partners find each other too late. The step from pilot to production requires clear agreements on price, volume, quality, and market access. These only develop through close collaboration within the chain.

From insight to action

Invest-NL and Goodberries spoke with leading food companies and ecosystem parties. Royal Cosun, Royal Smilde Foods, Colruyt Group, Bieze Food Group, Enrico Food, Compass Group, Menken Orlando, and Lidl, as well as ecosystem parties Shift Invest, Squarefield, and Those Vegan, shared their insights into the bottlenecks in the chain.

On 31 October, Invest-NL and Goodberries organised a roundtable with several sector companies. These parties recognized themselves in the bottlenecks mentioned. There is still too little collaboration in bringing the technology to market.

Four themes offer opportunities to accelerate the protein transition:

Getting the consumer on board
Balancing taste, price, and quality
Sharing knowledge within the chain
Sharing risks collectively with appropriate financing

Coalition of the willing tackles supply chain collaboration

Invest-NL is now working on a coalition of the willing: a group of agri-food companies that want to address structural barriers in the alternative protein chain together. In targeted projects, they develop new products and markets in collaboration with startups. Programs are also set up to connect supply chain partners early on, thereby shortening the path to commercialisation.

An example is the collaboration between The Seaweed Company and Colruyt Group. They demonstrate how entrepreneurs and corporates strengthen each other: innovation and entrepreneurship on the one hand, scale and access to the market on the other.

Read their story here.

Looking ahead

The Netherlands has the knowledge, infrastructure, and innovation capacity to lead globally in sustainable proteins. Invest-NL is exploring with supply chain partners what systemic changes are needed to accelerate this transition.

Interested? Contact Invest-NL and help bring innovation in the alternative protein sector to market more quickly.