FSI launches Sustainable Protein Action Lab, recruits Liz Specht to drive open innovation

Food System Innovations (FSI) has launched the Sustainable Protein Action Lab, a nonprofit innovation platform designed to tackle scientific and technical challenges that individual companies or academic institutions are often unable to address alone. The organization has also appointed Dr Liz Specht, former Senior Vice President of Science & Technology at the Good Food Institute and most recently a Fellow at DARPA, to lead the initiative as Vice President of Science & Strategic Initiatives.

• FSI has launched the Sustainable Protein Action Lab to address pre-competitive scientific challenges across sustainable proteins.
• Former GFI and DARPA leader Dr Liz Specht has been appointed to head the initiative.
• The Action Lab's first project is the US$2 million Data Garden, an open-access platform for standardized plant protein ingredient data.

The Action Lab has been established to bridge what FSI describes as a critical funding gap in sustainable protein research. While many scientific questions remain central to improving the taste, functionality, affordability, and scalability of next-generation proteins, they are often considered too applied for conventional academic funding yet too early-stage or broadly beneficial for individual companies to invest in independently.

Rather than focusing on proprietary technology development, the nonprofit platform will undertake in-house research, coordinate strategic partnerships, and develop open-source scientific resources intended to benefit the wider sustainable protein ecosystem.

Dr Specht brings experience spanning biotechnology, biomanufacturing, research and development, and innovation strategy. Before joining FSI, she served as a Fellow at the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), supporting programs focused on food system resilience, agricultural defense, and biomanufacturing. Prior to that, she spent several years at the Good Food Institute, where she led the organization's global science and technology team.

"Some of the most important challenges facing sustainable proteins fall into a gap between academia and industry," said Dr Specht. "They are too applied for traditional academic incentives, too early-stage for most companies to pursue alone, and too broadly beneficial to be solved by any single organization. The Sustainable Protein Action Lab was created to address exactly those challenges by bringing together scientific rigor, entrepreneurial execution, and a commitment to generating knowledge that benefits the entire field."

Alongside the launch, the Action Lab announced its first major program, the Data Garden, backed by an initial investment of US$2 million. The project aims to become the first open-access ingredient intelligence platform dedicated to standardized performance data for alternative protein ingredients.

The initiative will generate comparable datasets describing how plant protein ingredients perform across functional and sensory applications, providing food manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, and researchers with consistent information that can guide formulation and product development.

Leading the Data Garden is Dr Daniel Westcott, formerly Head of Protein and Texture at Bettani Farms, previously known as Climax Foods. Westcott combines industrial formulation experience with academic expertise gained through his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley.

"The Data Garden was built to remove one of the biggest bottlenecks in sustainable protein innovation: the lack of comparable, trusted data," said Dr Westcott. "By making this research open and actionable, we're helping both ingredient suppliers and CPG brands move faster, reduce development costs, and ultimately bring better products to market."

The platform will initially include standardized data covering 10 commercially available plant protein ingredients, including pea, soy, hemp, and fava. According to FSI, protein samples are processed using common isolation methods before undergoing a suite of analytical tests designed to link protein functionality with real-world food applications.

The resulting database is intended to serve multiple audiences. Ingredient buyers will be able to compare functional performance across different proteins, suppliers will receive detailed analytical reports on their ingredients while increasing visibility with potential customers, and researchers will have access to structured datasets suitable for machine learning applications.

FSI said reducing uncertainty around ingredient functionality could shorten development timelines, lower research and development costs, and improve decision-making throughout the product development process.

To support the initiative, the Data Garden has assembled an advisory panel drawn from both academia and industry. Members include Professor Julian McClements of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Braulio Macias Rodriguez from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Dr Jing Zhao of San Diego State University, Dr Jack Yang of Wageningen University & Research, Dr Gilad Kaufman of Tofurkey, Bettani Farms CEO Sandeep Patel, and Michelle Hofer of Prairie Fava.

Food companies, ingredient suppliers, and researchers will be able to contribute ingredients, access data, and participate in future testing programs as the platform expands.

The launch reflects a growing recognition across the sustainable protein sector that pre-competitive collaboration may be needed to address technical challenges that affect the entire industry, particularly as companies seek to improve ingredient performance while reducing development costs and accelerating commercialization.

(Main photo shows, from left to right, Iris Moore, Senior Research Associate, Dr Daniel Westcott, Data Garden Director, and Vivian Jones, Associate Scientist at Sustainable Protein Action Lab, Berkeley, California)