Israel Innovation Authority sets up cultivated meat consortium

The Israel Innovation Authority has approved the establishment of the cultivated meat consortium, one of the biggest in the world. Together with the business sector and academia, NIS 66 million will be invested in the consortium over three years, half of the sum by the government. Market sources believe that the total amount invested may eventually be more than NIS 70 million.

The aim of the consortium is to develop innovative production methods on an industrial and efficient scale, for a sector still in its infancy, in order to provide Israel’s cultivated meat industry, with a competitive advantage on international markets.

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The consortium, which will be led by Israel food giant Tnuva, will encompass 14 companies and 10 academic laboratories. Consortium members will also include Aleph Farms, Super Meat, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University. One of the main aims of the consortium is to connect between academia and industry and bring academic research about cultivated meat ‘down to earth.’

The consortium will tackle interdisciplinary topics ranging from shelf life of products, regulation, new foods, use of existing food production lines for ingredients, significantly reducing production costs, and more.

Over the coming months four working groups will begin to operate, focusing on developing technologies for cell growth for muscle and fat, bioreactor technologies and developing production, scaffold technologies, and growth technologies and its components.

Tnuva chief innovation officer and corporate venturing officer Shay Cohen will serve as chairman of the consortium. He described the investment as unprecedented in the field of cultivated meat. He said, “Collaboration between leading companies in developing cultivated meat and leading food producers, who bring the knowhow and ability to convert production technology to an industrial scale, and academic researchers, is vital for creating breakthroughs and making products accessible to the public at large. Israel, led by the Innovation Authority represents an example of excellence in the way states must operate.”

Israel cultivated meat companies raised $507 million in 2021 led by Future Meat, which raised $347 million for a production plant in the US, and Aleph Farms, which raised $105 million.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on April 18, 2022.

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