Cultivated Meat Innovation Challenge

submit here

WINNERS

THE PROBLEM. Cultivated meat has huge potential because it is exactly the same as the beef, pork, chicken and seafood people enjoy eating today – but grown directly from animal cells, instead of farming animals.

However, to scale up production and bring down prices, research will be essential to reduce the cost of cell culture media, increase the availability of cell lines, improve scaffolding and build larger and more efficient bioreactors for the cells to grow in.

The objective of the Challenge was to seek ‘Pioneering Solutions to Drive Down the Cost of Cell Culture Media’

4 Winners (Each winner will be awarded €100,000, opening the possibility for further funding by EIT Food to develop their project):

City-mix™ Cell-Boosters and Thermostable Growth Factors (UK) - “3DBio-Tissues will combine its unique food-grade City-mix™ supplements with Qkine’s world-leading, highly thermostable growth factors to maximise effectiveness of animal-free culture media, reduce reliance on other protein components, and accelerate commercialisation at lower costs.”

Optimal Growth Factor Expression in Tobacco (Israel) - BioBetter project is based on FGF2 gene expression optimization, resulting in high and stable expression in tobacco plants, which function as an eco-friendly bioreactor that combines the advantages of low-cost, large-scale agriculture with those of eukaryotic vectors”

Plant-Based Cell-Free Expression (Germany) - LenoBio is developing a radically different way to produce recombinant proteins, plant-based cell-free expression at industrial scale, with ALiCE®, the first scalable eukaryotic cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) system.

Microalgae Hydrolysates For Cellular Aquaculture (Portugal)- “S2AQUAcoLAB will assess Microalgae hydrolysates (µCELLAQUA), a cost-effective source of nutrients, for their capacity to sustain fish cell growth toward animal serum replacement in culture medium. To promote a circular economy, the growth of microalgae on spent cell medium will also be tested”

Cultivated Meat Innovation Challenge Webinar Recording

Challenge Summary

Seeking solutions to drive down the cost of cell culture media for cultivated meat. 4 projects will be awarded €100,000 each (with the potential for substantially more funding afterwards) to tackle this problem.

click here to submit

In partnership with

Background

Many of us are aware of industrial agriculture's contribution to climate change, antibiotic resistance and the spread of zoonotic diseases. Yet despite rising awareness of the need to make more sustainable choices, demand for meat continues to grow, as taste and price – rather than environmental or health impacts – decide what most people eat.

Cultivated meat has huge potential because it is exactly the same as the beef, pork, chicken and seafood people enjoy eating today – but grown directly from animal cells, instead of farming animals.

This new method of meat production enables the natural process of cell growth, but in a more efficient environment. The result is an abundance of cultivated meat, identical to conventional meat at the cellular level but free of pathogens and other contaminants.

Compared with conventional meat production, meat cultivation has the potential to be far less resource-intensive, decreasing methane emissions, deforestation, biodiversity loss, water use, water pollution, antibiotic resistance, and foodborne illnesses. A recent study by CE Delft – the first ever to be based on data from cultivated meat companies – found that cultivating meat from cells could cut the climate impact by up to 92%, reduce air pollution by up to 93%, and use up to 95% less land and 78% less water compared with farming animals.

With more research and development, cultivated meat could deliver the meat people want in a far more sustainable way.

EIT Food in partnership with GFI Europe have joined together on this Cultivated Meat Innovation Challenge to find ways to make this a reality. GFI has identified the most pressing technical challenges facing the cultivated meat industry and is now seeking your solutions.

Cultivated Meat Innovation Challenge: Seeking Pioneering Solutions to Drive Down the Cost of Cell Culture Media

In terms of scaling up production and bringing down prices, open-access research will be essential to reduce the cost of animal component-free cell culture media, increase the availability of cell lines, improve scaffolding – used to support cell growth and recreate the complex fibrous texture seen in conventionally produced meat – and build larger and more efficient bioreactors for the cells to grow in.

The first of these – animal component-free cell culture media – currently represents the majority of current cultivated meat production costs. While cultivated meat manufacturers and academic researchers have made significant progress in reducing costs and developing medium formulations for various cell types and cultivated species, pricing and large-scale availability of species-specific and food-grade versions of cell culture media components remains a challenge.

We are soliciting proposals which can address this through at least one of the two following approaches:

A. Developing media recycling technologies or other ways to remove or metabolise ammonia, lactate, and other waste products in cell cultures.

B. Developing a low-cost cell culture media for species-relevant cells that incorporates food-grade hydrolysates and non-animal-based solutions to reduce the need for (or cost of) recombinant proteins and growth factors. Applicants are encouraged to incorporate feed-grade ingredients when possible. The media formulation should perform as well or better than an equivalent serum-containing media based on standard assays for cell growth and proliferation. This could involve some of the following approaches:

Assessing cell culture media based on plant- or yeast-based hydrolysates to understand the raw material sources that perform best for cultivated meat applications, and provide insights on how to limit variability and improve reproducibility.
Analysing the performance of feed-grade ingredients in cell culture medium.
Comparative analyses between species-specific versions of growth factors.
Exploring methods to reduce the required amounts (or cost) of recombinant proteins and growth factors including, but not limited to: (1) engineering more potent or thermostable variants, (2) developing encapsulated or slow-release systems, (3) using conditioned medium from other animal cell lines, and/or (4) discovering biofunctionally-equivalent plant-based homologues for animal growth factors.

Prize

Up to four winners will each receive €100,000 to develop their solution

In addition to the prizes mentioned above, winners will also receive non-monetary incentives:

One-to-one mentoring and dedicated feedback on your research proposal from GFI Europe.
The opportunity to be featured on GFI Europe’s website, blog, and social media with a short description of your project goal(s).

Subsequent Project

This Prize money will be used to support the development of the proposed solution by the winners into a viable project plan during a period of 2 to 6 months after the closing of the Prize-based Challenge. EIT Food can help the winning teams in such an effort.

After the viability development phase, EIT Food will select the most promising projects among the winners (number TBD) and allocate enough funding to sustain the development to go to market. EIT Food reserves the right to select or not, and to fund or not, any projects.

Read the Cultivated Meat Innovation Challenge FAQ for more information.

Timeline

Applications can take place from 1 June to 30 Sept 2022 at 12am CET (Midnight). Winners will be invited to attend a Community Dinner at the EIT Food Venture Summit 2022 in Lisbon on October 26th, details here

Judging Criteria

All submitted proposals will undergo a scientific review to determine their feasibility and suitability for funding. The most promising submitted initiatives will be selected by a jury committee on the basis of pre-defined criteria (see below). Applications will be accepted from June 1st to Sept 30th 2022. Review and selection will take place including a digital presentation and consultation of the most promising initiatives (Oct 2022).

Winners will be invited to attend a Community Dinner at the EIT Food Venture Summit 2022 in Lisbon on October 26th, details here

Scientific alignment [35%]:

Anticipated likelihood of addressing the research priority specified in this RFP. Clearly written description of how technology solution will address the unmet need.

Project planning and feasibility [25%]:

Feasibility of project goals (including realistic timeline and budget as well as clarity, soundness, and logic of research plan) and suitability of project team to successfully carry out project goals.

Collaboration [10%]:

The Challenge calls for a joint effort by a variety of multi-stakeholder partners with different backgrounds or fields of expertise to make your application a success. The Sponsors encourage ‘unlikely partnerships’ for seeking pioneering solutions to drive down the cost of cell culture media.

Contribution to the scientific community [20%]:

Plan for sharing project protocols, data, results, and/or research tools and materials with the larger scientific community and alternative protein industry.

Commercial relevance [10%]:

Ability to outline a path for research outcomes to meaningfully advance the alternative protein industry. This includes the potential commercial applicability of research and relevance to the cultivated meat industry. (As a reminder, it is recommended to include in your application a letter of intent from a commercial company or anything showing a strong interest in your initiative by a commercial company).

Important

Please note that your Application must only include non-confidential information. You will have to agree to this before submitting your final response.

click here to submit

How to Submit

Applications submitted from any sector (academia, government, industry, startups, nonprofits, etc.) and from across Europe will be considered. However, all proposals must have a commercial company that provides a letter of intent for the project (if helpful, GFI hosts a database of global sustainable protein companies, though we also encourage interest from companies which are new to the space).

We strongly encourage proposals from scientists who are new to the alternative protein field. Additionally, we strongly encourage women, people from racial and ethnic minorities, and other individuals who are under-represented in the alternative protein industry to apply for funding through this challenge.

Submit your application between June 1, 2022 and September 30, 2022 at 12:00am CET (Midnight).

You will have to create an account before filling out the form and answering to the questions requested. You will be able to save a draft version before completing and validating your submission. Once ready to submit, you will be asked to agree with the Rules & Regulations governing the Cultivated Meat Innovation Challenge. The Rules & Regulations document can be found below for your review.

Background Resources

For more information, please see the following resources:

Technical analyses and reports which provide more context on the need for reducing the cost of animal component-free cell culture media:

More context on some of the solutions proposed above:

Rules & Regulations

The Challenge is governed by Rules & Regulations, which you must agree with if you intend to submit. Please visit and download the Rules & Regulations for more information.