Innovation-Friendly Regulation is Key to a Sustainable Food Future
Key voices from the worlds of biotech, policy, innovation and investment met in Brussels at the European Parliament to discuss how Europe can scale up food biomanufacturing to strengthen its strategic autonomy, competitiveness, and resilience. Hosted by MEPs Pascal Canfin, Hildegard Bentele, and Eero Heinäluoma in collaboration with Future Affairs, this roundtable is a signal that Europe is getting serious about shaping the future of its food system.
The focus? A critical question for Europe’s future:
How can we scale food biomanufacturing in Europe to enhance strategic autonomy, competitiveness, and sustainability without sacrificing safety or speed?
The conversation is more than timely. The food biotech sector holds the promise to deliver both environmental gains and economic resilience, but Europe’s current regulatory pathways are lagging behind the pace of scientific innovation.
According to the new Closing the Food Innovation Gap briefing:
- Food biomanufacturing could create a €400B market by 2040.
- Europe currently loses its own biotech innovations to faster global markets due to slow approval timelines.
- China is investing heavily in precision fermentation and fermentation-based feed inputs. 65–90% of essential nutrients for EU livestock are already sourced from China.
Scaling food biomanufacturing needs more than innovation. It needs:
- Clear regulatory pathways (novel food authorisation, consumer safety)
- Infrastructure support (demo plants, access to fermentation capacity)
- Trust and financing (investor confidence through EU-level frameworks)
A proposed solution? A Pan-European Regulatory Sandbox. A framework to speed up safe experimentation and approvals.
Why this matters to ÄIO
At ÄIO, our mission is to create future-shaping fats and oils via fermentation from agricultural and wood industry residues. We represent the exact kind of high-potential, deep-tech food innovator this event supports.
We’ve already:
– scaled from 1L to 10,000L, validating our platform
– proven TRL 7 readiness
– developed 3 functional, application-tested ingredients (Encapsulated Oil, RedOil, ZymaLipid Complex)
– attracted backing from Estonian and EU funding mechanisms
– created 120+ partnerships across the value chain
– our Encapsulated Oil, RedOil, and ZymaLipid Complex provide sustainable, traceable, and high-performance alternatives to palm oil, animal fat, and coconut oil.
– we are navigating the EU Novel Food approval process, and like many others, we believe regulatory efficiency is essential to grow where we innovate, at home in Europe.
This isn’t just about food. It’s about climate targets, energy use, biodiversity, and Europe’s ability to lead in sustainability rather than outsource it. We believe Europe must lead in sustainable food tech, and companies like ÄIO are ready to deliver, if the ecosystem is there to support it.
We’re proud to be part of this new wave of European food innovation and call on regulators and investors to join us in closing the gap—between potential and reality, between local by-products and global impact. We applaud today’s initiative and call for urgent, unified regulatory progress.
ÄIO’s CIO Mary-Liis Kütt, PhD representing biotech innovation
Visit also: https://www.closingthefoodinnovationgap.eu
Read more from the vegconomist: New Roundtable Will Discuss Creation of a Pan-European Regulatory Sandbox for Food Biomanufacturing