The Israeli food-tech industry has enjoyed exponential growth in recent years. IVC figures reveal that since 2010, more than 320 active and innovative food-tech companies have been established in Israel, and this is only the beginning.
In the coming years, we expect the emergence of exciting combinations of technologies from different disciplines such as big data, artificial intelligence, robotics, IoT, engineering and biology (bio-convergence) will enhance the industry with innovative technologies that are still hard to imagine today.
As far as the manufacturing industry is concerned, the enormous influence of the animal food sector on the global climate crisis can no longer be ignored. This 2 trillion-dollar industry is responsible for about 19% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions as well as for 25% of the world’s freshwater usage. This industry is also the leading cause of deforestation. Moreover, over a third of the world’s agricultural produce is used for feeding animals, while 820 million people worldwide suffer from hunger.
The climate crisis and the need for food security are the primary motives for the creation of a huge global market of alternative protein – with Israel at its forefront – that embodies tremendous economic and environmental potential. According to senior analysts’ estimates, this market is expected to grow to a value of hundreds of billions of dollars in the next decade.
The articles in this magazine present several of the innovative, revolutionary, and successful technologies at the various levels of the food-tech world via interviews with the people who created them, among others with the support of the Innovation Authority.
The Innovation Authority continues to be committed to investment and to the removal of obstacles that hinder the growth of the alternative food-tech sector. Further investments are however required for Israel to maintain momentum as a world leader in this field – from promotion of the academic knowledge and human capital needed by the industry, via creation of research and production infrastructures that will enable scale-up and the building of a national-level facilitating regulatory framework. Combining forces will enable Israel to become a global leader with the potential for significant positive impact for the entire economy.