The University of Alberta and New Harvest Canada are developing the Institute of Cellular Agriculture in conjunction with CULT Food Science.
This innovative strategic partnership will provide infrastructure, support and funding opportunities for innovators and researchers. The institute will be a platform for new ventures and intellectual property development focused on creating the future of food through cellular agriculture. In addition to the support and development of groundbreaking venture opportunities, the associated partnership will facilitate collaboration to develop and rapidly commercialize promising technology across a national network.
Located at the University of Alberta’s Agri-Food Discovery Place, the partnership will develop new companies focused on cellular agriculture research and innovation, and provide work-integrated learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students who will support this emerging industry.
With research at the University of Alberta and across the collaboration network, this centre of excellence national network will inform growing policy and regulations in the food regulatory arena and provide skilled personnel to fill emerging labour needs in the sector.
“This partnership with New Harvest Canada and its innovation partners will be pivotal in how our research and teaching addresses climate change, industry sustainability and food security issues,” said Heather Bruce, chair of the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta. “New Harvest Canada and CULT Food Science will join a nexus of startup companies at the U of A’s Agri-Food Discovery Place that is launching agriculture and food production into the 21st century.”
“Cellular agriculture is at a pivotal stage and needs the proper infrastructure to allow co-creation of innovation to deliver on its promises. Canada, and Edmonton, Alberta in particular, can provide the optimal environment to allow cross-disciplinary collaborations where cell ag can benefit from traditional agri-food disciplines and vice versa. This new partnership will leverage the University of Alberta’s legacy in bioprocess engineering to bring novel technologies and innovations to the Canadian agri-food sector,” said Isha Datar, executive director of New Harvest.
“We are at the horizon of an explosion of new ideas and ventures that will accelerate the global cellular agriculture industry. We are excited to be able to accelerate the launch and development of new ventures and ideas from individual founders, to supporting classic enterprises who want to adopt cellular agriculture as part of their strategy with our support,” said Lejjy Gafour, CEO of CULT Food Science.
About New Harvest
New Harvest is a nonprofit organization that advances cellular agriculture through world-leading research, innovative collaborative projects and multi-stakeholder engagement across the burgeoning public and private sectors of cellular agriculture. Founded in 2004, New Harvest is the world’s longest-running organization dedicated to advancing cellular agriculture as a strategy to create a more resilient, sustainable and ethical global food system. To learn more about New Harvest’s work, visit new-harvest.org.
About CULT Food Science
CULT Food Science Corp. is an innovative platform with a focus on product development, venture building and investment in cellular agriculture. CULT Food Science is advancing the development of these novel technologies to provide sustainable, environmental and ethical solutions for the future of food. The first of its kind in North America, CULT Food Science aims to provide individual investors with unprecedented exposure to the most innovative startup, private or early-stage cultivated meat, cell-based dairy and other cultured food companies around the world and create groundbreaking products for new consumer experiences.