Call for innovations promoting Swedish plant-based food

Food is an important key to a sustainable future. Farmers, food entrepreneurs and researchers agree that the food system needs to be transformed to become more sustainable - for our economy, health and the environment.

- Food has the potential to help nurture both the environment and human health, while giving us jobs and quality of life. If we fix the food, we fix the rest. To succeed in this, innovation and cooperation are required at all levels of society, says Joanna Franzén, area manager for the area of Sustainable food systems at Vinnova.

Through dialogues with over 300 people from different sectors in the food system, Vinnova has identified four areas with the potential to change the system: future food production, future food, future trade and future public meals.

Innovation to meet the demand for plant-based food

Vinnova is now making an effort on innovations to support Swedish processing of plant-based raw materials. The offer is based on needs expressed in different parts of the food sector.

In Sweden there is a shift towards more plant-based food. It can be seen on our plates: more and more people are eating more and more plant-based. It can be seen when we shop: the range of plant-based everyday food is growing. Sales of plant-based products have increased at a record rate and are expected to increase further.

- Both the demand and the supply of plant-based everyday food is increasing, but few of the products are based on Swedish raw materials and processed in Sweden. We have good opportunities to become self-sufficient in protein-rich crops such as peas and beans, but today there is a lack of capacity to take care of legumes on a large scale that are to be used in food, says Jesper Orhammar, who is responsible for Vinnova's new effort.

Swedish legumes are today sent abroad to be processed into protein flour that can be used in plant-based products. There are also no facilities for processing and packaging ready-to-serve legumes in Sweden.

New solutions that promote the use of Swedish raw materials can contribute to increasing the Swedish food sector's competitiveness and capacity for sustainable resource utilization, as more and more people demand plant-based everyday food.

Until 7 September, it is possible to apply for up to half a million kronor to investigate and develop an idea at an early stage, and up to three million kronor to further develop and test a solution.