A new report reveals companies around the world are in a cultured meat patent race. As this emerging foodtech niche gets FDA approval, lab-grown meat is predicted to make up nearly a quarter of all meat consumption by 2035.
A recent report has highlighted that the UK is poised to be a world leading developer of lab-grown meat, as the sector is predicted to rapidly increase its market share in the food industry. This fast-growing element of the foodtech sector involves cultivating meat by culturing animal cells. It’s expected to make up almost a quarter of global meat consumption by 2035.
With cultured meat being declared safe to eat by the US government, the starting pistol has been fired for the lab-grown meat market. Yet, this report shows the UK is already ahead of many in the race.
UK organisations have received £28.55 million in investment, raising more in the space than countries such as China, South Korea, Japan and France. The UK is beaten only by the US, Israel, the Netherlands and Singapore.
UK cultured meat company HigherSteaks, based in Cambridge, has received the second largest amount of capital investment of any company in the UK sector – and sits 6th on the list for Europe. It’s also filed the most UK patents of any company in the cultured meat space.
The report, that shows the UK’s forecasted cultured meat market has over half the value of all major European markets, was created by IP specialists GovGrant to discover which countries and companies are attracting most funding for cultured meat developments.
The top ten countries by total investment raised in cultured meat development:
– US – £1.36 billion
– Israel – £474.59 million
– Netherlands – £123.92 million
– Singapore – £100.67 million
– UK – £28.55 million
– China – £25.61 million
– South Korea – £21.09 million
– Japan – £13.16 million
– France – £10.70 million
– Spain – £10.12 million
Over 60% of all investment into cultured meat goes to the US, the only country to break the billion pound barrier. Israel, in second place, has less than half the US’ investment to date. It does, however, have a mature venture capital sector and a high proportion of specialised companies.
Although the Netherlands’ market also enjoys significant investment, the UK market has raised more investment than France, Spain and Germany combined, showing its potential to eclipse its continental neighbours.
Alec Griffiths, IP Manager at GovGrant, says:
“With the FDA rubber-stamping lab-grown meat as safe, the market should really take off now. That makes it more important than ever for companies to protect their assets, so we can expect to see an acceleration in the number of patents filed in the coming months and years – and plenty of new faces in the sector.
Adam Simmonds, Research Associate at GovGrant, says:
“Although it’s some way behind the US, the UK is still a leading innovator in this area. Plus, because there’s such huge potential demand among consumers here, that’ll only spur companies on to innovate further and perfect their products. This could become an interesting area of growth for the UK, particularly as not many nations possess the expertise to produce this meat. There will definitely be an uplift in investment in UK producers, who’ll want to take full advantage of the upcoming boom in demand.”
