Cauldron and Arsenale Bioyards named World Economic Forum Tech Pioneers for bio-manufacturing breakthroughs

Australian bio-manufacturing company Cauldron has been named among the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Technology Pioneers, joining a global list of 100 startups recognized for developing technologies with the potential to transform industries and address global challenges. The announcement marks a significant moment for the growing bioindustrial movement, with Cauldron and Italy’s Arsenale Bioyards both honored for their work in advancing scalable, sustainable production through fermentation-led innovation.

Cauldron’s selection comes as recognition of its commercial-scale precision fermentation platform, designed to unlock price parity for bio-based goods and enable widespread adoption of sustainable ingredients. Cauldron is headquartered in Orange, New South Wales, and is building a global network of advanced fermentation infrastructure. In November 2024, the US Department of Defense announced the company received funding as part of the DIBC program to plan a US facility.

“Being selected as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum is a huge milestone for Cauldron and validation of the work our team is doing to power the bioeconomy,” said Michele Stansfield, Co-Founder & CEO of Cauldron, in a recent post. “We’re proud to represent Australia on this global stage and showcase what’s possible when fermentation technology is scaled with purpose.”

Cauldron’s inclusion is particularly notable given the growing importance of food security and supply chain resilience. Fermented proteins, such as those used to replace animal-derived ingredients in dairy or eggs, are gaining traction as a viable solution to instability in traditional agriculture. According to a recent Forum article co-authored by Stansfield and Cauldron’s Head of Business Development Eva Borge, up to 60% of physical inputs to the global economy could theoretically be produced biologically – but scaling bio-manufacturing is the critical next step.

In that piece, Stansfield and Borge argue that food is one of three sectors “primed for a bioindustrial revolution”. Traditional agriculture is vulnerable to disease and trade disruptions, while precision fermentation offers a disease-resilient, scalable alternative for producing key ingredients like egg proteins. “Engineered microbes generate these proteins in bioreactors, offering a scalable, disease-resilient complement to traditional animal agriculture,” they wrote. “This approach strengthens food security and provides a more stable foundation for food systems in the face of future disruptions.”

Joining Cauldron in the 2025 Technology Pioneers list is Milan-based Arsenale Bioyards, which is building lab-to-production infrastructure to accelerate industrial-scale biomanufacturing. Its platform is designed to bring down the cost and complexity of scaling bio-based products – a hurdle that continues to challenge food-tech startups transitioning from research to commercialization.

Together, Cauldron and Arsenale Bioyards underscore a shift in the World Economic Forum’s focus toward enabling infrastructure for the bioeconomy. The 2025 cohort spans 28 countries and includes frontier technologies ranging from asteroid mining to AI-driven chemical discovery. But only a handful of companies, including Cauldron, Arsenale Bioyards, and USA-based Shiru and One Bio, are directly addressing the challenges of scaling food and ingredient production in a resource-constrained world.

Shiru, based in California, uses AI to discover and develop functional proteins from natural sources, which can replace synthetic additives or animal-derived components in foods. One Bio, also based in the USA, is focused on engineering plant-based fibers with anti-inflammatory properties, aiming to make health-promoting food more accessible.

For Cauldron, recognition from the World Economic Forum represents more than just a badge of honor – it’s a signal that precision fermentation is moving into the global mainstream. The company will now participate in a two-year engagement program, gaining access to World Economic Forum platforms and events, including the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, held in Tianjin, China (24-26 June).

This support comes at a critical time. Governments around the world are investing in national bioeconomy strategies to improve domestic production capacity and reduce reliance on fragile global supply chains. The US, UK, China, and India are all backing bio-manufacturing with initiatives focused on R&D, infrastructure, workforce training, and streamlined regulation.

“Biomanufacturing is more than an economic opportunity – it’s a strategic imperative,” Stansfield and Borge wrote. “To bring down costs and increase output, major investments are needed to improve microbial fermentation processes, develop next-generation bioproduction technologies and build out regional biomanufacturing capacity.”

Cauldron’s efforts to build a network of high-efficiency precision fermentation facilities in Australia and beyond align with this vision. The company has positioned itself as a contract manufacturing partner for biotech startups that need to scale but lack access to large-scale fermentation infrastructure. Its platform approach is designed to de-risk the scale-up phase – long considered one of the main bottlenecks in bringing bio-based food products to market.

Arsenale Bioyards is taking a similar approach in Europe, focusing on lowering the cost of industrial bioproduction through modular, flexible systems that can adapt to different types of products and technologies. The company’s work could play a vital role in enabling more sustainable food and material systems across the EU and beyond.