THE HAGUE, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Dutch food industry is seeking to transform by building an innovation ecosystem that links research institutions, companies, private investors and government to turn emerging technologies into commercially viable solutions for a more sustainable food system.
For Cosun, a Dutch agricultural cooperative with more than 8,000 sugar beet growers, innovation is closely tied to making greater use of plant-based raw materials and reducing waste.
"We really try to make sure that we valorize our co-products to the maximum," said Fanny Weinbreck, chief R&D officer at the Cosun Innovation Center in Dinteloord, in the Dutch province of North Brabant, on Tuesday.
Rather than using co-products simply for energy or animal feed, Cosun seeks higher-value applications, including food ingredients, plant-based proteins and fibers.
The cooperative works with universities, research institutes, startups, incubators and corporate partners through an open-innovation network.
According to Weinbreck, the model helps established food companies provide a pathway for emerging technologies to move beyond the laboratory and toward commercial applications.
For startups, the challenge is likewise to move technologies from the laboratory into commercial production.
GOA Ventures, a Dutch startup focused on seaweed processing based in Yerseke in the Dutch province of Zeeland, is working with research institutions to scale up its technology toward commercial production.
"The Netherlands has provided an ecosystem in which startups like ours can develop these technologies, work with research institutes such as NIOZ (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research) and move from an initial idea toward commercial-scale production," said Theo M. Verleun, CEO and co-founder of the company, on Tuesday.
The company's current demonstration facility processes about 15 kilograms of seaweed a day and is being used to test the technology and work with research and investment partners.
"The next challenge is to demonstrate that the technology can work economically and at industrial scale," Verleun said.
But financing remains a challenge in the transition of the food industry in the Netherlands.
The Protein Brewery, a Dutch company developing protein and fiber ingredients through fermentation, has progressed from laboratory research to pilot production and commercial manufacturing.
"The first investment was based on the fact that the technology was very robust," said Thijs Bosch, CEO of The Protein Brewery in Breda, in the Dutch province of North Brabant, on Monday.
The company raised its first investment around 2020, when interest rates were low and investors were actively backing sustainable food technologies. Fundraising has since become more difficult as interest rates have risen and investors have become more cautious, Bosch said.
"Now it's extremely difficult because interest rates are high. Many funds themselves are having trouble raising money," he said.
Peter Wennink, former CEO of Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML, also highlighted the funding challenge for startups and early-stage technologies in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, on Monday.
"We have to acknowledge that lack of funding for startups and early-stage development is a critical issue," Wennink told hundreds of founders and entrepreneurs looking to scale up, connect and innovate at LEVEL UP 2026 event.
The Dutch government's 2026-2030 coalition agreement explicitly identifies biotechnology, genetics, cultured meat and innovative fermentation as technologies that will play a role in future food production. It says the government will support private investment through grants and credit schemes and work with agribusinesses and knowledge clusters to scale up proven innovations.
