International Cellular Agriculture Network (ICAN)

Accelerating the potential of cellular agriculture in modern food systems

This transcontinental network is cooperating to accelerate the development of cellular agriculture technologies by sharing knowledge, building new connections and creating a stronger basis for product development and commercialization of non-animal-based foods from cell cultures.

Joint efforts to intensify the development of cellular agriculture technologies

Cellular agriculture technologies are generally still early stage and currently only a handful of niche productions can supply cultured meat and precision fermented milk products to consumers in selected countries and still at a relatively high price.

A lot of R&D is to be done for these technologies to become mainstream and overcome the challenges of cost, efficiency, scale up, taste and texture that make them largely unviable for large-scale production today.

Therefore, Food & Bio Cluster Denmark and Innovation Centre Denmark in Boston have organised an International Cellular Agriculture Network (ICAN) with leading researchers and ecosystem actors from The United States, Singapore and Denmark.

Cellular agriculture (CA) is the production of food products such as meat or dairy from cell cultures instead of from animals.

Through a series of networking activities, we will build connections, facilitate knowledge transfer and create the basis for transcontinental cooperation to accelerate the development and commercialization of cellular agriculture technologies. All with the purpose of speeding up development of these products and support commercialization.

Open network activities for non-members

The network activities run from 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2025.
 
The network members meet for the first time in January 2024 in Copenhagen in connection with the conference Precision Fermentation of Milk Proteins.
 
Network activities also open to non-network members include:
  • An innovation tour to the United States in late 2024 or early 2025
  • Minimum two online workshops focusing cellular agriculture topics
  • Exploration of potential cross-national collaboration such as research projects or commercial agreements
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Funding

The Network is led by Food & Bio Cluster Denmark and financed by the Global Innovation Network Programme (GINP) under the Ministry of Higher Education and Science in Denmark. 

If you are interested in tapping into the network, you are welcome to contact us.

Contact

DENMARK

Food & Bio Cluster Denmark

DENMARK

Food & Bio Cluster Denmark

UNITED STATES

Innovation Centre Denmark, Boston
Louise Krogh Johnson

Louise Krogh Johnson

Senior Innovation Manager
Jeppe Falck

Jeppe Falck

Senior Fundraiser & Portfolio Developer
Torben Orla Nielsen

Torben Orla Nielsen

Science Attaché / Consul

A transcontinental network

Why cellular agriculture?

The current food system relies on practices that are unsustainable with regards to land-use, water consumption, and biodiversity and a growing global population.

Approximately 40% of the total global protein supply comes from animal sources and the global livestock sector emits an estimated 7.1 GT of CO2-equivalent per year, representing 14.5% of human-induced GHG emissions. From a dietary perspective humans need mixed-protein diet, consisting of high-quality animal, dairy, and plant-based foods, but there is a dire need to diversify our food production and develop new technologies to provide us with the essential proteins we need. We need new biosolutions to alleviate the pressure on our planet.

Cellular agriculture (CA) is the production of animal-based foods from cell cultures rather than from animals.

After hunting and domesticating animals, cellular agriculture looks set to become the third phase of human sourcing of animal protein. Figures from the ReThinkX think tank suggest that lab-grown proteins may be five times cheaper than animal proteins by 2030.

While it may take longer than that, lab-grown proteins for beef replacement will potentially be up to 100 times more land efficient, 10-25 times more feedstock efficient, 20 times more time efficient, and 10 times more water efficient. 

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