Commerce
Commerce refers to the range of business-related functions and considerations relevant to the cellular agriculture industry.
Background
There are a number of focus areas relating to the commercial aspects of cellular agriculture as a new and rapidly expanding industry. Understanding the optimal commercial environment in terms of capital, regulation, infrastructure, partnerships, product positioning, potential whitespaces and consumer insights in particular, will be crucial to investors, entrepreneurs and existing private companies wanting to succeed in this emerging field. It is also of significance to policymakers to inform policy-related decision making.
Key considerations
Private companies face numerous critical strategic decisions as they look to solve technical challenges, commercialise their research and scale their operations into profitable entities. Key considerations might fall within: commercialisation, scale-up and operations; the role of existing industry and supply chains; corporate engagement & business development; governance; and sales and marketing.
The list below is far from exhaustive but aims to capture a number of potential research focus areas (and that have not been captured in one of the other Problems to Solve).
Commercialisation, scale-up and operations
What are the optimal set-up requirements and infrastructure needs? What already exist and what will need to be purpose-built/developed?
What bottlenecks currently exist that could impact scale-up? How can these be addressed?
What can be learned from the development and launch of previous novel food technologies?
Which funding models and avenues might be optimal for the construction of pilot, demo, and commercial-scale facilities specifically?
Existing industry and supply chains
What are the implications of large existing food and pharmaceutical companies investing in, acquiring or expanding their internal capabilities to include cellular agriculture technologies? To what extent is the involvement of these established players necessary if cellular agriculture is to disrupt existing protein markets?
What supply chain opportunities already exist beyond those tied to large existing food and pharmaceutical companies that could potentially be leveraged by emerging cellular agriculture companies? Conversely, how might existing companies hinder or resist the development of cellular agriculture due to extensive investment into existing infrastructure that supports traditional industries?
Corporate engagement and business development
How can cellular agriculture producers develop optimal business-to-business (B2B) relationships with current food providers (eg. retailers, wholesalers and restaurants)?
How can cellular agriculture companies benefit one another in a B2B strategy or product line context (e.g. product enhancement, utilisation of waste streams etc.)
How might existing protein producers find opportunities to enter the space? How might this influence startups’ ability to succeed?
How will market point entry impact consumer acceptance? For example how might cultivated dog food be received relative to cultivated rib eye steak?
Strategy and governance
What are the current whitespaces within cellular agriculture? Are any sub-sectors (eg. precision fermentation, cell lines, media development or scaffolds etc) or products (e.g. dairy, fats, specific animal meats etc.) at risk of becoming saturated?
What sub-sectors exist which could produce strategic gains for cellular agriculture (e.g. pet foods which may pave the way to greater acceptance of products for human consumption)?
How might the commercial success of individual companies be influenced by a leadership commitment to sustainability and ethical principles?
How might an emphasis on sustainability and ethical principles within the field influence the kind of outcomes the technology is able to achieve?
Sales and marketing
How important is consensus on product naming for industry success?
How might different labelling conventions be regarded by traditional protein producers?
How can packaging and placement (on shelf/online/menus) affect purchasing decisions? What implications might there be in a cross-cultural context?
What are the pros and cons of different product positioning strategies? For example, how will premium priced products perform compared to those sharing price parity with conventional products? Or how might entirely new products be received compared to those replicating convention versions?
How can culinary experts be engaged to amplify the appeal of cultivated meat and seafood?
In addition to scientists and engineers, a breadth of commercial skills will be required to power and guide the industry as research is commercialised and the ecosystem of companies grows and evolves. These may be within start-ups and maturing cellular agriculture companies, or ancillary companies throughout the supply chain (e.g. equipment and ingredients suppliers, investment firms through to data analytics, insights and brand agencies). In the not-for-profit sector, corporate engagement specialists will be required to educate and advocate for the adoption of cellular agriculture products across restaurant, grocery and food service channels. Relevant majors could include: Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Economics, Business Administration/Management, Logistics and Supply Chain, Business Analysis, International Business, Investment and Securities.