10077190CULT-GRO: A game-changing growth enhancer to accelerate the affordable scale-up of cultivated meatClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKRising meat/protein demand and awareness for environmental protection needs are driving changed outlooks within the meat industry. The growing need for alternative protein sources to combat meat shortages along with a fast-growing population is enhancing the need for cultured meat production. However, persistent technical challenges in manufacturing and in deriving low-cost end-products hampers rapid growth potential. End-consumers are shifting their focus towards sustainable lifestyles, seeking meat with lower environmental impacts than resource-intensive traditionally-farmed meat. The UK is set to become a world-leading developer of cultured meat, with a predicted 31% (£1.7bn) market-share by 2030, supporting 9,200-16,500 new jobs. QuestMeat and Multus are pioneering biotechnology start-ups within the cultivated meats sector. Together with UCL, this consortium will develop 'CULT-GRO', a formulation for cultured meat production. This project will respond to the cultivated meat production need and deliver more sustainable, lower-emission alternative protein sources, with faster production and adaptive supply strategies of proven formulations at-scale. This will enable the UK's cultivated meat market to respond to food supply-chain demands more rapidly, reducing carbon emissions and addressing the shortages in meat globally. This project is anticipated to deliver transformative effects for QuestMeat and Multus, and will lead to a huge impact on the UK's cultured meat supply-chain. CULT-GRO is an enabler to catalyse/accelerate the commercial implementation of new cultivated meat products and provide multiple interface points for cell-line development, ingredient suppliers and cultured meat manufacturers. The project outputs will include taste-testing of ingredients that can be used to produce low-cost cultivated meat. This project will benefit the UK economy, generating local and export revenues and headcount growth across the cultivated meat sector.