Alternative Proteins in the United States 2024
In response to the growing UK alternative protein ecosystem and targeted investments into research and innovation projects, a Global Expert Mission (GEM) was undertaken by Innovate UK to identify collaboration opportunities with the US.
Top Five Insights
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UK firms considering entering the US market need a greater understanding of the specifics of the sector around location and logistics, customer demographics, costs, market scale, and how investment and legislation can differ from state to state.
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Government funding and public investment in the US to support early-stage SMEs is typically provided at state, region or city level, rather than from a joined-up federal source at present. This can create a more complex landscape for new innovation and start-ups looking to find US support mechanisms, when compared to the UK innovation ecosystem.
The vibrant landscape of US incubators and independent bodies in the alternative protein space provides a valuable resource for early-stage businesses, with the potential to support bilateral knowledge transfer programmes for UK SMEs.
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Securing Venture Capital funding is still possible, but is becoming harder to find in the current market conditions. The importance of specialist investors that understand the business models and the longer timelines associated with exits within the sector was highlighted as being critical to securing deals. Capital is still being secured by companies that have commercial viability and a defined pathway to revenue generation and profitability, have a clear point of market differentiation, and are providing a solution to an industry or consumer problem.
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Separation from the European Food Safety Authority, following the UK’s exit from the European Union, presents a potential opportunity for the UK to become a leader in the global alternative proteins space for new assessment and approvals protocols. There is an appetite among US businesses for engaging more closely with the UK both as an established alternative protein market with its own regulatory control, and as a soft-landing point for entry into the European market.
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The US has a number of significant industry-focused conferences and tradeshows that bring a range of key stakeholders from the industry together, and represent strong anchor points on which to build future international activities.
Executive Summary from outcome report
The global alternative protein market continues to grow at pace, driven by a strong desire for collaboration and innovation. The sector has the potential to improve climate sustainability, food security, nutrition in diets and job creation, amongst wider economic opportunities.
Experts from the UK built a greater understanding of the US landscape through this visit, from research and development priorities through to commercialised products already on the market. This was realised through tailored meetings with stakeholders active across the sector, such as alternative protein companies, investors, incubators, retailers, regulators and government.
The GEM also considered how Innovate UK can help UK SMEs to capitalise on this knowledge and understand future global market opportunities. The GEM builds on the earlier Global Business Innovation Programme (GBIP) missions and bilateral co-founding with Protein Industries Canada that focused on plant-based proteins
Watch the dissemination webinar recording
About Global Expert Missions
Global Expert Missions (GEM) is funded by Innovate UK and designed to build international collaborations with governments, societies, enterprises, institutions, and people from every corner of the globe. With global challenges requiring international perspectives, the programme aims to support the UK government’s ambition to be the international partner of choice and a global hub for innovation by 2035.