Collaboration is key if you want to transform a system as large and extensive as the global food system in a fundamental way. To this end, ProVeg is happy to announce its membership in the EU-supported EIT Future of Food, Europe’s leading food-innovation initiative that brings together diverse partners to create an inclusive and innovative community to build a resilient food system.
EIT Food: pushing the EU’s innovation strategy
EIT Food is a knowledge and innovation community established by the European Institute for Innovation & Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union and an integral part of Horizon 2020, the EU’s framework program for research and innovation. The project aims to address the food value chain from an holistic perspective and include key industry players, agrifood startups, research centers, and universities from across Europe. The EIT Food network consists of an innovation community with more than 50 partner organizations and over 50 startups from 16 EU member states.
Solutions need to be as multilayered as the food system itself
Similar to ProVeg, EIT Food aims to make the food system more sustainable and healthy. It includes representatives from multiple sectors such as education, entrepreneurship, and public engagement in their network, thereby creating a pool of joint expertise. Under the slogan ‘improving food together’, EIT Food has identified strategic objectives to future-proof our food supply, such as supporting consumers in informed decision-making, working towards a circular economy, and equipping the public with ‘food-system’ skills through education and training.
Plant-based meat alternatives
Plant-based meats have now become permanent fixtures on supermarket shelves, with the sector continuing to develop and grow dynamically.
Moving beyond animal products is crucial to a resilient food supply chain
ProVeg is uniquely suited to serve as the competence center and counseling partner in order to provide support for the ongoing reduction of global animal consumption. With our pioneering Incubator program, we bring in valuable startup expertise which is strengthened by our partnerships with a range of caterers, schools, and other institutions. In addition, we also host large-scale food awareness events such as VegMed and the New Food Conference, making us an experienced networking partner. We are thrilled to support the ecosystem within EIT food and look forward to partnering with other members to accelerate in the plant-based space.
The meat industry will end up like Kodak if they don’t change
Ulrika Brandt, plant-based-food market expert at ProVeg, believes that meat alternatives will continue their unstoppable rise.
Smart Protein: another ProVeg partnership that is growing the European protein landscape
EIT Food is not the first powerful network that ProVeg has partnered with. In 2020, ProVeg, together with 32 partners from across 21 countries, launched Smart Protein, an EU-funded project that aims to develop novel proteins using byproducts from pasta, bread, and beer production. New protein products will also be developed from plants, including fava beans, lentils, chickpeas, and quinoa – with a focus on improving structure, taste, and flavor. The project is a four-year, €9.6-million collaboration that recognizes the need to work interdisciplinarily and for all stakeholders in the food system to pull together in order to tackle the challenges of current food production.
Help us create the change
Our goal is to unify the most important players in the movement, which requires close networking between individual country branches of ProVeg and ProVeg International.
