The Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe has shared research showing that patent publications by European alternative protein innovators have increased by 960% over the last decade.

The nonprofit think tank’s report found that the region’s companies and public research organisations published 1,191 patents related to the development of plant-based foods, cultivated meat and fermentation last year. Just 124 were published in 2015.

According to GFI’s findings, the total number of patents filed by European organisations stands at more than 5,000. The publication rate has grown by an average of 32% each year. This highlights the rapid rate of innovation across the alt-protein sector, GFI noted.

Despite this, the report suggests that key technologies required to ensure these proteins are as tasty and affordable as animal-based products remain ‘overlooked,’ with more open-access research ‘urgently needed’ to advance the field.

It found an inconsistent picture across Europe, with innovators from just five countries (Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK) named on 72% of all patent ‘families’ – groups of documents related to the same invention.

Switzerland emerged as a clear leader, with Swiss organisations publishing 1,232 patents from 262 patent families since 2015. Elsewhere, Germany has the highest number of individual ‘asignees’ – the organisation or individual that owns the patent’s rights – at 82.

Plant-based foods dominated innovation, with nearly 4,000 patents published in this area since 2015. This represents 74% of the total and reflects the greater maturity of plant-based research, while some cell-based and fermentation technologies remain in their infancy in the alt-protein industry.

However, GFI highlighted that areas such as improving protein crops grown to provide the raw ingredients for plant-based products remain ‘highly neglected’.

The number of patents published relating to cultivated meat and precision fermentation was much smaller, highlighting the need for more research to stimulate innovation. This is particularly relevant in areas such as developing better culture media to enable animal cells to grow, and finding more efficient microbial strains as a basis for fermentation-made foods.

Alt-meat was the most common end product, followed by dairy, but just 1% of all patent families related to alternative seafood, indicating a need for further research in this category.

David Hunt, research support manager at GFI Europe, said: “This report reveals the rapid pace of Europe’s alternative protein innovation. However, alongside the exciting breakthroughs, we find that key areas needed to commercialise these foods are being overlooked, and there is a risk that some countries may be left behind.”

He added: “In order to drive green growth and boost food security, governments and funding bodies must build a thriving ecosystem by providing more opportunities for public research organisations to collaborate closely with private companies. This would deliver open access innovation that will benefit the entire field and help bring findings to market more quickly.”