Project description
Advancing plant-based protein for a sustainable future
The growing global demand for plant-based diets is driven by population growth, the nutritional importance of proteins and the environmental impact of animal-based food systems. Despite the rise in plant-based alternatives, current products often lack optimal nutritional and technological functionality. With this in mind, the EU-funded Excel4Pro project focuses on advancing plant protein processing techniques and improving the quality of plant-based foods. By connecting research hubs in Greece, Turkey and Ukraine, Excel4Pro fosters knowledge exchange and collaboration, helping to scale up plant-based protein ecosystems. The project aims to support sustainable food systems, with a strong emphasis on innovation, training and investment in the agri-food sector.
Objective
Three key global drivers underpin the increased interest in plant protein-based diets: population-growth, important role of proteins in a healthy diet, and the environmental impact of animal-based food chains. While an increasing trend in proportion of plant sources included in diet is obvious, the current generation of commercial plant-based alternatives is suboptimal. Therefore, more research is needed to develop mild processing techniques for plant proteins and to obtain a comprehensive understanding on the impact of plant proteins on technological and nutritional functionality.
Addressing current challenges and shortcomings, Excel4Pro aims to support, with underpinning research and knowledge exchange, the capacity of the national Excellence Hubs of Türkiye, Greece, and Ukraine as a regional launch pad for plant-protein-based novel food economies. Excel4Pro will be used as a critical tool to connect and scale up the strategically selected plant-based protein ecosystems in a single, interconnected and cross-border Excellence Hub dedicated to growing and changing the agri-food sector in Türkiye, Greece and Ukraine by developing novel food products based on plant-based proteins.
Collaborative R&I strategies, mentoring programmes, action plans to attract dedicated investment, and an array of upskilling activities for researchers and entrepreneurs will help close knowledge gaps between place-based innovation ecosystems and support the development of more sustainable food systems.
Excel4Pro's consortium contains 17 partners (4 Academic, 8 Business, 2 Public Authorities, and 3 Societal Actors) that are well balanced and fully completes the quadruple helix. Excel4Pro is a 4 years project with 6 carefully designed Work Packages that efficiently exploit the consortium's diverse knowledge and expertise to develop solutions to Global Challenges in line with EUGreen Deal, the Farm to fork strategy for a fair, healthy and environment-friendly food system.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.4.1 - Widening participation and spreading excellence
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-ACCESS-07
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
06100 Ankara
Türkiye
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.