EIT Food Welcomes Publication of Life Sciences Strategy

EIT Food warmly welcomes the publication of the European Commission’s Life Sciences Strategy and the renewed focus on bioeconomy and biotechnologies. As the strategy itself highlights, the food system plays a central role within the broader life sciences ecosystem (see EIT Food’s response to the call for evidence for more).

Harnessing the full potential of life sciences is essential to bring Europe’s food system back within planetary boundaries. Through targeted investment and collaborative research, life sciences can help deliver healthier and more sustainable diets whilst supporting Europe’s competitiveness. Biotechnological innovation offers particularly transformative opportunities for sustainable food production, improved resource efficiency, and enhanced resilience. Some examples of critical contributions of life sciences to a future-fit food system are:

• Complementary proteins and novel foods Underutilised protein sources, complementary to traditional ones, have great potential to alleviate pressure on agricultural land and critical strategic dependencies, such as nitrogen imports – especially when paired with sustainable farm management models. While the EU is at the forefront of innovation in novel foods and ingredients (e.g. improved lactoglobulin, ovalbumin, and other functional ingredients produced via biomanufacturing) as well as feed, future-proof and coherent regulatory frameworks are crucial for these innovations to develop and scale.

• Circular Bioeconomy Solutions About 70% of the biomass fuelling the EU bioeconomy comes from the agrifood value chain. Especially when it comes to byproducts and residues, circular approaches can extract further value and sensibly reduce the chain’s environmental impact by creating new value streams and products. Notably, feed- and food-grade applications constitute a particularly effective use of biomass, as reflected in the Commission’s “food-and-feed-first principle” enshrined in the EU Bioeconomy Strategy, Waste Framework Directive, and Circular Economy Action Plan.

• New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) NGTs can enable the development of climate-resilient, disease/pest-resistant crop varieties better adapted to today’s climate, achieving results analogous to those obtained through conventional breeding, in a fraction of the time. This can be a useful tool for farmers, allowing to increase the reliability of yields whilst potentially reducing the cost of inputs.

From bioalternatives to conventional inputs for primary production, to enzymatic processing, to many others, each of these promising solutions is not sufficient in a vacuum: making the EU’s agrifood sector more sustainable and competitive will require leveraging these innovations in concert, whilst acting on funding, education, and public trust. The Life Sciences Strategy, alongside other landmark initiatives like the Startup and Scaleup Strategy and Union of Skills, marks a praiseworthy effort to impart new momentum and directionality to tackling this multifaceted challenge.

The Strategy’s attention to agrifood innovation is a needed signal in a sector suffering from especially high barriers to the uptake and scaling of innovation, owing to shortage of qualified talent, low generational renewal, high fragmentation and low propensity to risk-taking – among others. EIT Food especially praises the Commission’s intent to streamline regulatory procedures for food applications, making them more agile and efficient. We would welcome a clear signal in the upcoming Biotech Act that it will be used to accelerate approval procedures in the Novel Foods Regulation, which remains an imposing obstacle for innovators in this strategically crucial field. The Strategy correctly emphasises the consumer’s perspective, which remains at the heart of EIT Food’s approach: it is important that consumers are given a genuine voice in policymaking and have their views reflected in the food system of tomorrow.” We also praise the Commission’s emphasis on the One Health approach, which highlights the vital connection between agriculture, nutrition, and planetary health, as well as the future launch of the One Health Microbiome Initiative.

As the Communication emphasises, European Partnerships can provide a crucial contribution by fostering long-term collaboration, reducing fragmentation, bringing critical scale, and supporting regulatory change in their domain. We especially cherish the recognition afforded to EIT Food and other KICs in fostering innovation with a transversal approach spanning education, entrepreneurship, investment, and cross-sector collaboration, in support of innovation. In close alignment with Food2030 and other relevant initiatives, EIT Food has deployed an extensive portfolio of activities that resonate closely with the priorities highlighted in the Strategy:

• Projects bringing life science innovations to the market, developed and deployed in cooperation with industry, academia, and RTO partners. Examples are employing faba bean wastewater as a functional ingredient alternative to eggs (1); developing microalgae-based alternatives to dairy products (2); or designing protein-rich plant-based seafood alternatives, reducing pressure on marine environments (3).

• Supporting startups and entrepreneurs advancing innovative solutions in life sciences, such as OnegoBio, producing functional egg whites with no need for animals through precision fermentation; Green Spot Technologies, upcycling several plant side streams through fermentation; and Meala, enabling cleaner labels with fewer ingredients through their texturising protein. Beyond our networking, training, and investor matchmaking services, EIT Food also directly invests in startups.

• The new EIT Food Skills Academy on Biotechnology builds dynamic learning alliances to close skills gaps and foster innovation across the food system. In partnership with industry, academia, and policy, we offer tailored learning grounded in our Competency Framework. Building on the EIT Food Master’s in Food Systems and other courses, farmer training and workshops, the Academy delivers upskilling and reskilling for professionals at all levels, ensuring relevance and recognition through micro credentials.

• As consumer trust and awareness are key to the uptake of food innovations, EIT Food conducts large-scale quantitative consumer research through its Trust Report looking at trust in the food system and willingness to change diets. The most recent edition analyses propensity to substitute meat with plant-based alternatives. Additionally, EIT Food has conducted smaller-scale qualitative research with consumer focus groups on specific issues, such as consumer perception of alternative proteins or on ultra-processed foods.

• Our Protein Diversification Think Tank pools the expertise of leading industry and academic representatives to produce state-of-the-art knowledge on the barriers and opportunities faced by this strategic emerging sector, and policy recommendations.

EIT Food commends the European Commission for the direction set by the Life Sciences Strategy, and encourages further attention to the agrifood sector in upcoming initiatives on life sciences and biotechnologies. We stand ready to deploy our expertise in support of the upcoming strategic R&I agenda for food systems and the Life Sciences Coordination Board.