Strengthening the Capacity of Excellence Hubs of Türkiye, Greece, and Ukraine to Support Innovation Ecosystem of Novel Foods Based on Plant Proteins

Project Information

Excel4Pro

Grant agreement ID: 101186662

DOI

10.3030/101186662

EC signature date 31 October 2024

Start date 1 January 2025

End date 31 December 2028

Funded under

• Widening participation and spreading excellence

Total cost

€ 5 946 368,75

EU contribution

€ 5 946 368,75

Coordinated by

TURKIYE BILIMSEL VE TEKNOLOJIK ARASTIRMA KURUMU
Türkiye

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Excel4Pro (Strengthening the Capacity of Excellence Hubs of Türkiye, Greece, and Ukraine to Support Innovation Ecosystem of Novel Foods Based on Plant Proteins)

Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2026-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Excel4Pro addresses the need to strengthen sustainable and innovative food systems by focusing on plant-protein-based novel foods. The increasing demand for protein, the role of proteins in healthy diets, and the environmental impact of animal-based food chains create a strong motivation to develop better plant-based alternatives. Although the market for plant-based foods is growing, many existing products still face challenges related to nutritional quality, technological functionality, scalability and consumer acceptance.

The overall objective of Excel4Pro is to stimulate scientific excellence and strengthen the innovation capacity of regional plant-based protein ecosystems by widening and reinforcing cooperation among the Excellence Hubs of Türkiye, Greece and Ukraine. The project brings together research organisations, businesses, public authorities and societal actors in a cross-border collaboration framework based on the Quadruple Helix approach.

Excel4Pro aims to co-develop joint research and innovation strategies, support capacity building and knowledge transfer, implement collaborative R&I activities, promote dissemination and exploitation of results, and strengthen entrepreneurial and innovation support mechanisms. Through mentoring, training, stakeholder engagement and pilot-oriented activities, the project is expected to contribute to more sustainable, competitive and resilient agri-food systems.

The expected impact is to improve cooperation between regional innovation ecosystems, close knowledge and skills gaps, support the development of plant-protein-based novel food solutions, and contribute to EU priorities such as the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy."

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Excel4Pro strengthens plant-protein innovation ecosystems in Türkiye, Greece and Ukraine through collaborative research, ecosystem integration and pilot-oriented scientific activities. The project focuses on sustainable plant-based protein solutions and the valorisation of regionally relevant crops and agro-industrial side streams for future food applications.

A harmonised multi-criteria benchmarking methodology was jointly developed and implemented across the three ecosystems in order to evaluate protein-rich crops regarding nutritional quality, processing potential, sustainability and economic relevance. Based on the benchmarking activities, chickpea, lupin, sunflower press cake, pumpkin seed press cake and mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) were identified as priority raw materials for subsequent laboratory-scale and pilot-oriented studies.

Consortium partners initiated laboratory-scale extraction, purification and characterization studies focusing on selected plant protein sources and side streams. Preliminary results demonstrated promising protein recovery and purity values, particularly for oilseed-derived materials. In parallel, collaborative scientific publication activities and cross-border research cooperation were initiated among consortium partners.

The main achievements so far include the establishment of a common scientific benchmarking framework, the identification of priority protein crops, the generation of initial technical results supporting future ingredient development activities, and the strengthening of scientific collaboration among research organisations, industry partners and innovation actors within the participating ecosystems.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Although Excel4Pro is still ongoing and final project results are not yet available, the activities performed so far have already established important scientific, technical and ecosystem-level foundations for future plant-protein innovation activities. The project goes beyond the current state of the art by combining harmonised cross-border benchmarking methodologies, pilot-oriented plant protein research and quadruple helix ecosystem integration within a single collaborative framework involving Türkiye, Greece and Ukraine.

A major outcome achieved so far is the development and implementation of a common multi-criteria assessment methodology for the evaluation and prioritisation of protein-rich crops and agro-industrial side streams across different regional ecosystems. This approach supports more systematic and comparable decision-making regarding future plant-based ingredient development and pilot-oriented processing activities. In parallel, preliminary laboratory-scale studies generated promising technical results regarding protein extraction, purification and characterization of selected raw materials, particularly oilseed-derived side streams.

The project also contributes to strengthening collaboration between academia, industry, innovation actors and ecosystem stakeholders through joint scientific activities, collaborative publication pipelines and ecosystem-oriented co-creation activities. These interactions help support knowledge transfer, improve innovation capacity and strengthen regional cooperation within emerging plant protein ecosystems.

Further uptake and long-term success of the project results will require continued pilot-scale validation, demonstration activities, industrial collaboration, access to funding opportunities and further support for commercialisation and innovation uptake. Additional needs include sustainability assessment activities, regulatory alignment, market-oriented validation and continued stakeholder engagement to support future implementation and scalability of plant-protein-based solutions.

In the next project phases, Excel4Pro will further expand pilot-oriented activities, collaborative research actions, sustainability analyses and ecosystem-level innovation support mechanisms in order to strengthen the scientific, technological and innovation impact of the project results.