The food and protein industries might be competitive in the commercial realm, but key promoters of the protein revolution urged developers and industries to work together to expand the market.
“It really comes down to a will to work together and that comes with a shared vision,” said Chris Chereau, the chief technology officer for Protein Industries Canada, speaking at the Manitoba Protein Summit in February.
Chereau and others on a panel discussing how to build on the growing momentum and interest in dietary proteins said the expanding field will prosper if developers and pioneers can work with other institutions and economic sectors, some of whom they might tend to think of as competitors or as irrelevant to their focus.
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That means not feeling threatened or competitive if things end up somewhere outside the confines of any player.
“It’s not about which state, province or university is leading a certain initiative. It’s about the broader goal of advancing this industry,” said Christina Connelly, the trade commissioner for agriculture and food and a champion of the protein highway initiative aimed at boosting co-operation between researchers, governments and companies in the states and provinces of central North America, including the prairie provinces, the U.S. great plains states and the northern Midwest.
Connelly said beginning to collaborate early in the research and development process helps prevent walls being put up.
“That builds trust and that is key to how you might leverage the various intellectual property relationships,” said Connelly.
Modern research and development are often focused on creating intellectual property that can be protected from competitors and provide a way for developers to recoup their investments.
But intellectual property restrictions can also keep others from being able to further develop new innovations and hold back developers from working together.
“That dialogue before you get started is really important to understand what are the terms in which intellectual property can be accessed?” said Chereau.
Connelly also urged co-operation between two sectors that often consider each other competitors: plant and animal protein producers. Consumers are keen on protein as never before, and both sources are important.
“The solution needs to be both,” said Connelly.
“We should be lifting each other up.”
