Public research funding
The Good Food Institute Europe’s policy and science and technology teams work to boost public research and development funding to make alternative proteins delicious and affordable for everyone.
Why should governments fund alternative protein research?
Just like they have funded research and development into renewable energy to make it the default option, governments committed to climate and biodiversity targets should fund open-access research into plant-based foods, cultivated meat and fermentation. By funding diversified protein sources, governments can also ensure that innovative food science reaches commercialisation, enabling Europe to be a leading player in food biotechnology and biomanufacturing.
Companies are already developing these foods, and some governments are leading the way in investing, but it will take much higher levels of government investment to accelerate progress, bring prices down and make these options available everywhere.
Public sector investment in open-access research can address foundational issues and support the growth of a whole sector, rather than just one company.
Dive into the alternative protein research ecosystem
Our State of the European alternative protein research ecosystem reports explore the current research and innovation landscape for alternative proteins in Europe and feature in-depth analyses of public and non-profit funding, academic publications, and patents.
What level of funding is needed?
The Global Innovation Needs Assessment (GINA) conducted by ClimateWorks Foundation and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) suggested we needed a global investment of US$10.1 billion every year in research & development and infrastructure & scaling to unlock the benefits of alternative proteins.
To meet that target by 2050, we estimate that European governments should be collectively investing €1.3 billion a year by 2035, with €550 million of that dedicated to R&D.
If all European countries contributed equally to meeting this target, based on their proportional annual R&D spend, this pie chart gives an overview of what the picture would look like.
According to a more recent analysis by Systemiq, to unlock the full potential of alternative proteins, governments need to invest €690 million annually in R&I across Europe. With 2025 funding standing at €236 million, Europe risks missing out on the food security, sustainability and economic benefits of protein diversification.
Government investment in R&D funding sends strong signals to companies and to private investors and therefore acts as a catalyst. Additionally, the role of public funding is complementary to private investment. While companies tend to be focused on near-term challenges and usually want to protect their innovations, public funds can be invested in longer-term, forward-looking R&D questions that are designed to maximise public benefits. Public funding can address foundational issues and as results tend to be open-access, it can support the growth of a whole sector, rather than just one company.
Defining public-sector R&D funding
Public-sector R&D funding can be defined as funding that leads directly to the advancement of scientific, technical, and socio-economic knowledge and capacity. This could be funding for academic research projects, research training programmes such as PhDs or fellowships, consortia or partnerships between academia and companies which may include private funding contributions, and grants to companies to fund innovation. There are many other types of public investment that are needed for food systems transition, such as loans to companies to fund scaling up, and investments in building/ retrofitting infrastructure. These kinds of investments are important to bring down costs and make sustainable options available for a broad array of people.
“Given that taste, price and convenience decide what most people eat, publicly funded research should focus on making alternative proteins competitive on these fronts – so that sustainable options become the default choice.”
acacia smith, Senior gfi europe policy manager
How are governments supporting alternative protein research?
Between 2020 and 2025, European funders invested €1.3 billion in alternative protein research, including €236 million in 2025.
European Union
The European Commission allocated €469 million to alternative protein research between 2020 and 2025, with a 253% increase in that time period. More than 40% of this funding came from Cluster 6 of Horizon Europe. There have been a number of multi-year consortia-based projects, including filling knowledge gaps across all alternative protein types, creating enabling food environments, and advancing fermentation.
GFI supports a number of these projects, such as GIANT LEAPS, FEASTS, and HealthFerm. Read more about our involvement in project consortia, and access our funding database.
Denmark
The Danish government invested €24 million in alternative protein research between 2020 and 2025 – placing it 10th among European countries. The aim of the R&I has been to support the country’s growing plant-based sector and incentivise farmers to grow protein-rich crops. If private funding is included, then Denmark is the highest funder in Europe at €176 million.
Finland
The Finnish government invested €62 million in alternative protein research between 2020 and 2025, ranking fourth in Europe. This includes a €34 million grant to fermentation startup Solar Foods, enabling the company to accelerate the progress of its first production facility and doubling the nation’s investment in sustainable proteins.
France
The French government has invested €29 million in alternative protein research between 2020 and 2025, placing it seventh among European countries. For example, the precision fermentation start-up Standing Ovation received almost €5 million in total from the French government and the government bank Bpifrance during this time period. In March 2026, the company received another €30 million from Bpifrance and other investors, which are not included in the numbers of this report.
Germany
The German government invested €79 million in alternative protein research between 2020 and 2025, placing it third among European countries. It has adopted a number of measures, which include dedicated research funds for alternative proteins. Germany is leading Europe in government funding for plant-based research, and while it lags behind other countries in fermentation and cultivated meat, it is slowly beginning to embrace these platforms too. In 2026, the German federal government announced, as part of its High-Tech Agenda, that it would more strongly support cultivated meat and precision fermentation and build a dedicated innovation hub.
Netherlands
The Dutch government has invested at least €88 million in alternative protein research between 2020 and 2025, placing it second among European countries, despite available figures likely representing an underestimate. As the country that pioneered cultivated meat, the Dutch government launched the record-breaking €60 million Cellulaire Agricultuur Nederland funding programme, designed to accelerate research and the commercialisation of cultivated meat and precision fermentation, as well as education and training to ensure workers are ready to take on the jobs this sector creates.
Spain
The Spanish government invested €26 million in alternative protein research between 2020 and 2025, placing it ninth among European countries. This includes an investment of €5.2 million in a project to develop cultivated meat made with healthier fats, in an effort to reduce rates of colon cancer and high cholesterol, two of Spain’s most fatal health problems. In 2023, the regional government of Catalonia invested €7 million in a Center for Innovation in Alternative Proteins (CiPA), which covers a variety of projects, including some initiatives to help plant-based and fermentation businesses with scaling their processes.
Sweden
The Swedish government invested €47 million in alternative protein research between 2020 and 2025, placing it sixth among European countries. This includes an investment of 60 million SEK (approximately €5.2 million) over 4 years in the PLENTY project: focused on circularity in the food system, including the use of sidestreams in fermentation.
United Kingdom
The UK government has invested €145 million in alternative protein research between 2020 and 2025 – the highest total among European countries. The UK is home to a rich alternative protein R&D ecosystem, including a cellular agriculture manufacturing research hub led by the University of Bath and backed by £12 million of government funding. However, the significant funding drop in 2025, after several years of sustained increases, means the UK risks losing momentum, highlighting the need for more consistent funding to ensure the newly established academic community continues to grow.
Looking beyond Europe, China has for the second time included alternative proteins as a key priority in its’ 5 year plan. We also see fantastic examples from governments in countries such as Canada, Australia, Japan, and South Korea, committing serious sums and investing in the potential of plant-based and cultivated meat as well as fermentation. See GFI’s State of Global Policy report for a full overview of European and global R&D funding.
Where is public research funding needed?
GFI Europe has conducted market research to build a roadmap to success for plant-based and cultivated meat. Check out sustainable protein innovation priorities to learn more about commercial whitespaces, research gaps, technological needs, and investment priorities at each stage of the value chain.
How we work
GFI Europe works with scientists, policymakers and other organisations to reduce knowledge gaps about the important role of public R&I in the plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation sectors.
- Our policy and science teams work with policymakers and research funders to share our expertise on R&I priorities, helping to ensure that government investment is directed towards the highest-impact areas. We define impact based on which R&I will lead to the greatest level of uptake and therefore societal benefit.
- We utilise our strong networks with the European research field to support scientists in accessing funding.
- We fund research through our global Research Grants Programme, with more than €19m allocated so far to researchers in 19 different countries. We also fund research in collaboration with other funders, for example our 2026 partnership with Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) to support plant-based and fermentation-enabled protein ingredient optimisation.
- We collaborate with EU level platforms working in food systems R&D, including EIT Food, FOODForce, the Climate Innovation Hub, and the European Alliance for Plant-based Foods.
See more on how R&I paves the way to sector growth:
Boston Consulting Group. (2022).
Climate Advisers. (2023).
Climate Works Foundation. (2023)
Our public research funding expert
Acacia Smith leads our work to secure public funding for sustainable protein research and development, working with scientists, policymakers and other organisations to accelerate plant-based and cultivated meat innovation.
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