NAPIC recently joined episode 25 of the Scaling Green-Tech podcast, hosted by the team at Adopter.
In the episode, Co-Director Karen Polizzi sat down with Adopter’s Katherine Keddie and Prithvi Kodialbail, Head of Partnerships at Extracellular, to discuss NAPIC’s role in translating scientific discoveries into commercial alternative protein products – and the challenges still ahead for cultivated meat.
Karen covers the key barriers slowing the sector’s progress, from the cost of cell culture manufacturing to navigating regulatory approvals across different geographies. The conversation explores how NAPIC is helping to close those gaps: through infrastructure mapping to connect companies with facilities and analytical capabilities, small research grants to address specific commercialisation blockers, and input into the Food Standards Agency’s cell cultivated product sandbox.
The episode also gets into why food security an increasingly compelling value driver for alternative proteins, and what it will take to shift consumer attitudes as these products move closer to mainstream availability.
Recording this episode was a good opportunity to reflect on the breadth of work happening across the alternative protein ecosystem, and the role that knowledge-sharing plays in moving the whole sector forward. If you’re an investor, founder, or academic working in this space, we’d encourage you to explore NAPIC’s membership and collaborative funding programmes.