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ABOUT US

The National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC) was launched in August 2024 following funding by BBSRC and Innovate UK as well as stakeholders from the public and private sector. 

NAPIC will tackle the pain points from producer→consumers to enable translation of cutting-edge alternative protein technologies into new products and processes.  

NAPIC will create a highly dynamic open innovation ecosystem that addresses the needs of present and future consumers for tasty, nutritious, safe, affordable and accessible alternative proteins products while reducing anxiety about ultra-processing. 

Decorative diagram showing the 4 organisations involved in NAPIC: University of Leeds, The James Hutton Institute, University of Sheffield and Imperial College London. The Perform, Produce, People and Process headers, A list of Focus Areas: Cultivated Meat, Precision Fermentation, Valorising Natural Kingdom and New Alternative Food Production System. A list of Sectors: Ingredients, Food, Feed, Service, Equipment & Systems, Other Protein Technologies.

Built on four interdisciplinary knowledge pillars, PERFORM, PRODUCE, PEOPLE and PROCESS covering the entire value chain of alternative protein supply, NAPIC will be the UK’s growth engine to create a blended protein economy. Being a true catalyst to accelerate the discovery-innovation-commercialisation roadmap of alternative protein, NAPIC will enable an efficacious and safe translation of new transformative technologies unlocking the benefits of alternative proteins across sectors such as food, feed, services, equipment, and other protein technologies.

NAPIC will focus on valorizing the natural kingdom to derive proteins from diverse sources (e.g. plant, algae, fungi, bacteria, aquatic plants), precision and biomass fermentation, cultivated meat and new alternative production systems (insects, novel aquaculture).

PERFORM

Control pre- and post-consumption product performance overcoming current bottlenecks in alternative proteins functionality. The PERFORM pillar will employ multiscale approaches, from validated in vitro, in silico, in vivo (production, animal feed trials, human nutrition studies and consumer studies incorporating machine learning (ML)) tools, to predict, define, control and demonstrate ‘pre-production-to-biological’ performance of AP foods and feeds.

PRODUCE

Enable partners to produce alternative proteins ingredients of optimum functional and nutritional quality, delivering techno-functional, sensorial and nutritional performance in final products. This pillar will create new value chains using advanced (bio)technological and modern biological tools, circular bio-economy approaches, selection of new/underutilised plant/fungal/algal/insect proteins, and re-purposing strategies to create the next-generation of APs.

PEOPLE

Guide consumer dietary behaviour towards more sustainable and healthy alternative proteins products. Using behaviour change techniques and consumer insight methods (e.g. choice experiments), the PEOPLE pillar will inform commercial and educational strategies to increase acceptance of APs and shape the types of products/ingredients most likely to be accepted by future consumers, providing new training and business opportunities for SMEs.

PROCESS

Use boundary-pushing physical, bioengineering and cellular processes that minimise carbon footprints, to discover and manufacture alternative proteins and healthy products providing economies of scale. PROCESS pillar will employ precision fermentation, cell factories, new extraction/fractionation technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) model-guided scale-up to optimise AP processes.

Data and digitalisation including health and sustainability metrics (e.g. carbon calculator, Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), nutrient composition, food structure/function, choice experiments, food-behavioural impact) will underpin our four knowledge pillars. We are unlocking opportunities to accelerate the agile development of safe, healthy and affordable alternative protein-based foods, feeds and allied technologies whilst addressing NetZero ambitions. We will devise and apply novel digital tools to systematically assess health, behavioural and economic outcomes to evaluate multidimensional societal benefits relative to costs.

3d illustration of molecule model.

NAPIC is co-created with >120 pan-UK and international industrial stakeholders, associate academic partners, regulatory bodies, third sector and investors.

emale researcher adding pink liquid to meat sample using pipette working in laboratory
Vegetarian dish stew soy steaks with rice on a plate on the table

This £38M innovation centre is working to position the UK as the international benchmark for the global alternative protein market. Our strategic interdisciplinary approach covers the entire alternative proteins value chain, embedding digitalisation, health and planetary metrics.

The term “alternative proteins” refers to proteins that come from sources other than animals and fish. Alternative proteins can come from plants, insects, or microorganisms like bacteria, fungi and algae. They can be extracted from their natural source and used to make products like burgers, cheese, milk, etc. Alternative proteins can also be made in the lab by what is known as precision fermentation, which is the same/similar method as brewing, or by culturing different types of cells in tanks called bioreactors. Most types of cells can be grown this way including animal cells to provide products called “cultivated meat”.