Project acronym: Ri-ProT

Funding body: The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the State of Berlin as part of the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments through the Berlin University Alliance

Duration: 01.10.2024 - 30.09.2026

FU Team: Dr. Dagmara Weckowska, TBC

Partners:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Cornelia Rauh, Technische Universität Berlin
Prof. Dr. Dr. Martina Schäfer, Technische Universität Berlin
Prof. Dr. Peter H. Feindt, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft (DLG)
Die Gemeinschaft zur Förderung von Pflanzeninnovation (GFPi)
Good Food Institute

Project description:

Providing enough protein for a growing world population in the face of climate change and limited resources while reducing the adverse environmental, social and health impacts of protein production urgently requires transformative change, widely discussed as a ‘protein transition’. Numerous technological, social and institutional innovations are currently pursued to transform or replace the dominant modes of protein production. However, the contribution of these innovations to inclusive, health-enhancing, environmentally sustainable food systems is often unclear or contested. Concerns have been raised about, for example, the footprint of alternative proteins, health impacts of highly processed food components and potential perpetuation of unequal power structures in the food system. There is thus an urgent need to start an inclusive discussion about responsible innovation in the area of the protein transition, to develop transparent criteria and to start assessing the diverse range of innovations in this field.

The overall aim of the project is to support Responsible Innovations for the Protein Transition (RI-ProT). The RI-ProT project will work with key scientific and non-scientific stakeholders to better understand key environmental, ethical and justice issues in the ongoing transformation of protein production by (1) jointly advancing the conceptual understanding of responsible innovation in the context of complex systemic transformations, with a focus on protein transitions, (2) co-developing a novel innovation radar methodology that enables inclusive, transdisciplinary anticipation of innovation impacts, (3) co-generating novel insights into the potential of different innovative solutions to provide proteins for all and (4) co-developing ideas for strategies, practices and policies to drive just protein transitions.