Bezos Earth Fund Opens Sustainable Protein Centre In North Carolina

The new facility opened at the university at the end of May, with $30 million (€27.7 million) set to be invested in the site over the next five years. The Bezos Earth fund is the brainchild of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Funding will focus on three core areas – plant-based products; precision fermentation to produce proteins and nutrients that can be used in food formulations; and cultivated meat grown from animal cells.

The opening of the new facility forms part of the Bezos Earth Fund’s commitment to establishing a network of open-access research and development centers focused on sustainable protein alternatives.

The university is working with a number of academic partners, including N.C. A&T State University, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Duke University, and Forsyth Tech Community College, at the facility, along with more than 20 industry partners.

Biomanufacturing Firms

It is also confident that it will provide an opportunity for biomanufacturing firms to locate in North Carolina, bolstering both the local economy and jobs market.

“With the centre, we are looking to develop solutions that will provide greater diversity of choices for consumers that are both tasty and sustainable,” added Bill Aimutis, co-principal investigator on the grant and co-director of the new center who has extensive experience working with sustainable protein producers and start-up companies.

This announcement builds on the Bezos Earth Fund’s $1 billion grant commitment to help transform food and agricultural systems around the world, without impacting the planet.

ESM