When considering foodtech you’re thinking lab-grown or plant-based meat alternatives and other food-related products. “Food” it’s in the name, right?
In Singapore where reaching 30% food autarky in 2030 is a key national goal, by-products of the food industry are explored as the bricks of widely different products: band-aids made from fruits’ husk, stems of pasta herbs fermented into sanitizer, cashew processing materials into anti-bacterial compounds, brewer’s spent grain in a facial mask, etc.
William Chen for The Straits Times
The name of the game is upcycling.
But it’s not just about that; peptide synthesis technologies used to grow meat are now efficient at producing animal-free collagen, scaling mushroom production unlocked pathways to vegan leather, etc.
While you put innovation in a box, it’s already out and invading new territories. Innovation is never a linear game that fits in a pipeline or complies with a specific vertical.