A new collaborative platform, Plant2Food, aims to accelerate the development of plant-based foods. Researchers and companies are invited to collaborate in exploring complex challenges within plant and food science and sharing new knowledge across sectors – without taking out patents based on the results. The Novo Nordisk Foundation is supporting the platform with up to €27 million over the next five years.
It is necessary to convert a big part of our food production to plant-based foods if we want to make the most appropriate use of our agricultural land as well as being able to feed a growing world population.
The key to accelerating this transition is developing a greater selection of tasty, nutritious and sustainable plant-based food products that are also affordable to consumers.
A new collaboration platform, Plant2Food, has been launched as a hub for researchers and companies to collaborate to solve some of the complex issues of developing plant-based foods – without taking out patents based on the results.
The platform is based on open collaboration, which means that the knowledge created through the platform becomes available to everyone, so that more companies and researchers can benefit from the same knowledge. The aim is to accelerate the overall development of new plant-based foods and to optimise collaboration across the various sectors within plant and food science.
“We need to rapidly develop foods that can feed a growing world population without over-utilising the planet’s resources. Plant2Food creates a unique opportunity to make Denmark a leader in developing plant-based foods and ensure that we leverage the huge potential already existing in Denmark’s research community and companies and build networks with the best international experts in the field,” explains Claus Felby, Senior Vice President of Biotech at the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which is awarding up to €27 million (DKK 200 million) for Plant2Food over the next five years.