Inside Green Innovation: Progress Report - Third Edition highlights:
- Over the last two years we have seen dramatic growth in new patent applications for this exciting fledging industry. While in the most recent data the growth trend remains, it is at a noticeably lower rate than the previous year – a sign of stalling on lift-off or a temporary COVID-19-induced blip?
- Innovators in the US continue to lead new filings in this sector, but innovation has plateaued, whilst innovation in South Korea has increased rapidly and filings in Singapore are rising in the wake of the approval of the sale of lab-grown meat there, in 2020.
- Cultivated meat has a long innovation chain, with innovation extending from the genetic editing of cells all the way to the packaging of the final meat product. There is a notable focus on increasing efficiency of production at all stages.
- Upside Foods is the single biggest filer and they have also obtained the first regulatory approval for cultivated meat in the US.
- Universities and relatively small, specialist companies make up the list of high filers. Some such as Mosa Meat, a Dutch food technology company, are attracting star backing from actor Leonardo Di Caprio.
Cultivated meat (also known as slaughter-free, lab-grown, or cell-based meat) is made by culturing animal cells using in vitro methods. It is a promising alternative meat source. Advantages of cultivated meat over meat from livestock include the opportunity to optimise nutritional profiles, to remove the need for antibiotic use and reduce the production of non-consumable waste products, such as cartilage, bone, and intestines.
Cultivated meat production is based on tissue engineering techniques originally developed for regenerative medicine. The production of cultivated meat involves in vitro cultivation of animal cells/tissue, specialised growth media, and 3D culturing scaffolds. Of course, food technology also plays an important role.
Following on from the first commercial sale of cultured meat in December 2020 in Singapore, in 2022 the US Food and Drink Administration (FDA) gave regulatory approval for Upside Foods’ cultivated chicken – the first regulatory approval for any cultivated meat product in the US. Its inaugural consumers won a competition for the privilege of being the first paying customers of cultivated meat in the US in July 2023.
However, major obstacles to cultivated meats being commercially viable and widely consumed remain, such as obtaining regulatory approvals and reducing the costs of laboratory grown meat products. Nevertheless, many companies are now investing in larger facilities to scale-up production with the aim of driving down costs so that cultivated meat can become an affordable option for everyone.
Innovation in the production of viable, affordable, and widely available cultivated meat products is increasing year-on-year (Figure 1). The challenges of climate change and feeding an increasing global population, would suggest that we can probably expect to see continued growth in this field.
Nevertheless, while patent filings have continued to grow, it is notable that the rate of growth has reduced between 2020 and 2021. COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns may be accountable for this slow down. Whether this is a sign of a broader loss of momentum remains to be seen.
Figure 1: Ten-year trend - global priority filings - cultivated meat innovations
(Priority filing = the first time a patent application for a unique invention has been filed (the first filing))
The US is still the highest patent filer in new cultivated meat technology, but South Korea is edging closer (Figure 2). Indeed, it appears that a slow-down in the rate of new innovations coming from the US accounts for the global slow-down discussed above. While the number of new, US innovations has plateaued compared to 2020, for many other countries the rate of growth seen in 2020 has largely continued into 2021. Interestingly, there have been new patent filings coming from Singapore in 2021, possibly fuelled by the approval of the sale of lab-grown meat by the Singapore Food Agency in late 2020.
Figure 2: Ten-year trend - global priority filings by territory - cultivated meat innovations
Types of innovation
Some examples of the cultivated meat technologies disclosed in the new 2021 patent applications are:
- Apparatus and devices which aim to reduce production costs and increase production capacity, for example, bioreactors adapted for large scale production
- Microcarriers and scaffolds for cultured meat production, for instance, edible microcarriers/scaffolds, scaffolds with improved adhesion properties and 3-D printable scaffolds
- Culture media comprising additional nutritional components; ingredients to improve cell proliferation to replace traditional cell culture ingredients with cheaper alternatives
- Binding agents for shaping a meat alternative product, for example, using hydrocolloids as an alternative to highly-processed methylcellulose
- Genetically modified cells
Notable companies
The number of unique patent applicants (i.e., the number of entities that have filed at least one new patent application in the given year, or unique assignees (assignee = the owner of a patent/application)) has continued to increase rapidly year-on-year, which again demonstrates the interest and potential for growth in this market as new entities continue to be attracted to invest in R&D (Figure 3). Upside Foods, based in California, has continued to lead in terms of the number of annual patent filings (Figure 4). Yonsei University in South Korea is also a top filer in this sector.
Figure 3: Ten-year trend - unique assignees and priority filings by year - cultivated meat innovations
(Patent assignee = the owner of a patent/application, also known as the ‘applicant’ (for a patent application), patentee (for a granted patent), or proprietor.)
The new applications from Upside Foods relate to cultured cells, methods for preparing cell-based food products, plant fat-based scaffolds, hydrogel scaffolds, and multi-layer substrates for the growth of cell-based meats. In addition to the US FDA’s approval and the first commercial consumption of their cultured chicken, Upside Foods has also announced plans for a new, comparatively large-scale factory. Development of such a facility may fuel further innovations in increasing production capacity and efficiency.
Yonsei University has filed applications focussing on scaffolds for producing cell cultured meats, which enable the culture meat to gain various textures by varying the degree of cell differentiation and organisation.
Mosa Meat, a Dutch food technology company, has emerged as another top filer since 2020. The company has produced the world’s first cultivated beef burger and is backed by actor Leonardo Di Caprio. Applications relate to methods of producing cultured fat cells, non-ammoniagenic media for animal primary cell cultures, and methods for preparing a cell-containing hydrogel for use in the production of cultured meat.
Chungbuck National University in South Korea is another leading filer. It has filed applications relating to methods of preparing in vitro meat by proliferating muscle satellite cells derived from muscles of various livestock and a method for preparing a cell culture meat, including bleach or betaglucan in the cell culture composition.
Nitto Denko Corp is a Japanese food technology company which appears to be branching into cultivated meat production. Its applications focus on cell culture scaffolds and improvements in cell adhesion.
Patent filings from Aleph Farms were at the same level as previous years and included applications relating to producing bioengineered tissue and 3D printable protein enriched scaffolds. The company is currently seeking regulatory approval to sell cultivated steak (Aleph Cuts) in the UK.
Another new entrant – Future Meat Tech – has filed an application which focusses on improving the cost effectiveness of cell culture media by improving systems for filtering waste materials so the cell culture media can be recycled. This is possibly fuelled by the incentive to make cultivated meat a more viable option financially.
Looking ahead into the partially available dataset for 2022, we can see more new players coming to the fore, with Oxford University spin-out, Ivy Farm Technologies, currently leading the list of top filers.
Figure 4: Eleven-year trend - top filers - cultivated meat innovations
Implications for innovation and future patent filings
Cultivated meat is an area of advanced technology operating in a complicated societal context. There is a long innovation chain to realise, all the way from optimising the genetic code of the cells to ensuring that the final foodstuff is appropriately packaged. Current regulatory restraints must also be addressed.
Commenting on our report, Azamat Kokov, Chief Operating Officer of Ivy Farm, was in no doubt that the remaining technical hurdles will be addressed, with the high technology nature of this sector. This not only promises to replicate the existing meat-consuming experience in a more sustainable way, but also to present consumers with options for a wide range of exciting new culinary experiences in the years to come. As a warning note, Mr Kokov added, “Investment into the UK’s cultivated meat sector has soared in recent years, but industry regulation needs to catch up with technological development, to avoid stifling growth”.
The hope is that momentum will continue to build in the coming years as companies overcome current hurdles – both technological and regulatory. Patent filings in this sector are clearly growing year-on-year which indicates continuing innovation in cultured meat products and processes. As regulatory approvals increase and more cultivated meat is available to buy, the increased pressure on scaling up production and lowering costs should fuel developments in high volume methods and accelerated production.
Other areas of innovation are likely to include using alternative ingredients for cell culture to reduce costs and maintain consumer safety. There is also interest in recycling materials, again demonstrating that a major aim of researchers in this sector is to make cultivated meat more affordable and sustainable.
