Meet Leo Koning, our new Community Manager!

My name is Leo Koning, and I will be joining Foodvalley NL as the new Community Manager for The Protein Cluster (TPC).

What Leo adds to the Foodvalley team

I am excited to contribute to the transition for more tasty, affordable, healthy, and sustainable food. To do this successfully, I will use my energetic & positive approach to create engagement with our stakeholders to participate actively in this journey. I believe that working together, sharing best practices, ideas, and focusing on common interest, is the way to make this happen. I have over 25 years […]

Interview Angry Camel: “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it”

Angry Camel consists of two enthusiastic entrepreneurs Kotaiba and Bakr, originally from the Middle East. Although they both came from the Middle East, Kotaiba lives in Sweden while Bakr lives in Germany. Both want to bring innovative oriental healthy snacks and superfoods to the market.

Challenge the existing snacking ecosystem

Kotaiba studied for a Ph.D. in service marketing and management with a focus on food ecosystem innovation and previously worked in logistics, sales and marketing. Bakr studied food technology and worked for a Swiss company […]

Interview Jack Link´s: Explore and connect within the field of plant proteins

As a world leader in branded protein snacks, Jack Link´s has a long-term vision for sustaina-ble growth. They have a global presence and a strong position in Germany, the United King-dom, Belgium and the Netherlands, selling high-quality salami snacks and beef jerky pro-duced by their world-class production facilities.

Jack Link´s has a keen eye on sustainability. For example, they are committed to reducing their overall carbon footprint and give consumers a wide choice of plant-based meat alternatives in addition to meat.

First meat-analogue

Jack Link´s believes it is important to continue […]

Interview Ostara: Striving for sustainability with three main pillars

Ostara Innovations B.V. focuses on innovating technologies in the field of agri-food and nutrition. They do this by identifying new and exciting research opportunities for the downstream Agri-Tech industry and use their ability to support renowned institutions working on sustainable solutions for the future.

Ideas, Research and Development

Ostara looks for the right idea that fits their values and has potential to become a fully developed product. Furthermore, they support research in downstream agricultural technology, giving the product a chance in modern marketplaces and with conscious consumers. They also support research and development […]

Dutch Protein Shift Ecosystem Mapped

The Netherlands is referred to as a Global Plant-based protein Powerhouse. The Protein Cluster created a non-exhausting overview of over 50 Dutch organisations, initiatives, programmes and clusters shaping the future of protein, including their primary focus areas. The overview was presented during the March 11th community meeting and can be found here.

Is there an initiative missing? Send your suggestion to info@theproteincluster.com. A database of over 200 Dutch post-harvest companies active in the Protein Shift sector will be published soon.

The Protein Cluster initiated the IPC project Transition to Plant Proteins. Thirteen Dutch SME’s receive funding to join forces in developing novel plant protein ingredients and applications. Further information in the Press Release (in Dutch).

Food Valley Update dedicated to world-leading plant protein innovations, a must-read and inspiring document for everyone in the Green Protein business.

Read it here: Food Valley Update Green Proteins

Products with green proteins often look like meat products. The name ‘meat replacer or ‘meat alternative’ refers to something second best. Therefore, a new identity has to be developed for these products. The category offers opportunities for the food sector. Companies can meet challenges by co-creation. This can be concluded from the Green Protein summit in October 2017.

A fast growing worldwide population and increasing demands from growing middle classes in Asia and elsewhere, the large amount of land and water used to grow cattle, and health issues related to a high intake of (red) meat; the need of a transition […]

Close to 200 international stakeholders met during the first Green Protein summit, organized by Food Valley NL, marking the official launch of The Protein Cluster. Dutch and international renown plant protein entrepreneurs showed how creativity and technology are both ingredients for Green Protein impact.

During the Food Valley Green Proteins Summit on 11 October, the Protein Cluster was launched to a national and international audience. A collaboration between the provinces of Gelderland and Overijssel, Food Valley NL and Oost NL, the Protein Cluster (TPC) will function as an international center for entrepreneurs – in the plant based protein chain – who […]

Innovation in green proteins has become a hot target for investors, with many predicting that demand for healthy, environmentally friendly protein sources is set to skyrocket in the coming years.

Robert Vreeman set up Corpeq’s Green Protein Fund in early 2016. He was first inspired to get involved in start-ups while studying for his MBA at Stanford and saw what his peers were achieving with a more hands-on investment approach. The decision to focus on green proteins came later, from observing general trends in food and nutrition, and the venture capital fund is now keeping an eye on a database of […]