To secure a continued supply of safe, tasty, affordable and functional/healthy proteins while supporting Net Zero goals and future-proofing UK food security, a phased-transition towards low-emission alternative proteins (APs) with a reduced reliance on animal agriculture is imperative. However, population-level access to and acceptance of APs is hindered by a highly complex marketplace challenged by taste, cost, health and safety concerns for consumers, and the fear of diminished livelihoods by farmers. Furthermore, complex regulatory pathways and limited access to affordable and accessible scale-up infrastructure impose challenges for industry and SMEs in particular. Synergistic bridging of the UK's trailblazing science and innovation strengths in AP with manufacturing power is key to realising the UK's ambitious growth potential in AP of £6.8B annually and could create 25,000 jobs across multiple sectors. The National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC), a cohesive pan-UK centre, will revolutionise the UK's agri-food sector by harnessing our world-leading science base through a co-created AP strategy across the Discovery?Innovation?Commercialisation pipeline to support the transition to a sustainable, high growth, blended protein bioeconomy using a consumer-driven approach, thereby changing the economics for farmers and other stakeholders throughout the supply chain. Built on four interdisciplinary knowledge pillars, PRODUCE, PROCESS, PERFORM and PEOPLE covering the entire value chain of AP, we will enable an efficacious and safe translation of new transformative technologies unlocking the benefits of APs. Partnering with global industry, regulators, investors, academic partners and policymakers, and engaging in an open dialogue with UK citizens, NAPIC will produce a clear roadmap for the development of a National Protein Strategy for the UK. NAPIC will enable us to PRODUCE tasty, nutritious, safe, and affordable AP foods and feedstocks necessary to safeguard present and future generations, while reducing concerns about ultra-processed foods and assisting a just-transition for producers. Our PROCESS Pillar will catalyse bioprocessing at scale, mainstreaming cultivated meat and precision fermentation, and diversify AP sources across the terrestrial and aquatic kingdoms of life, delivering economies of scale. Delivering a just-transition to an AP-rich future, we will ensure AP PERFORM, both pre-consumption, and post-consumption, safeguarding public health. Finally, NAPIC is all about PEOPLE, guiding a consumers' dietary transition, and identifying new business opportunities for farmers, future-proofing the UK's protein supply against reliance on imports. Working with UK industry, the third sector and academia, NAPIC will create a National Knowledge base for AP addressing the unmet scientific, commercial, technical and regulatory needs of the sector, develop new tools and standards for product quality and safety and simplify knowledge transfer by catalysing collaboration. NAPIC will ease access to existing innovation facilities and hubs, accelerating industrial adoption underpinned by informed regulatory pathways. We will develop the future leaders of this rapidly evolving sector with bespoke technical, entrepreneurial, regulatory and policy training, and promote knowledge exchange through our unrivalled international network of partners across multiple continents including Protein Industries Canada and the UK-Irish Co-Centre, SUREFOOD. NAPIC will provide a robust and sustainable platform of open innovation and responsible data exchange that mitigates risks associated with this emerging sector and addresses concerns of consumers and producers. Our vision is to make "alternative proteins mainstream for a sustainable planet" and our ambition is to deliver a world-leading innovation and knowledge centre to put the UK at the forefront of the fights for population health equity and against climate change.

The agri-food system, producing 23% of UK emissions, must play a key role in the UK's transition to net zero by 2050, and through leadership in innovation can support change globally. Our Network+ will build on existing and new partnerships across research and stakeholder communities to develop a shared agenda, robust research plans, and scope out future research and innovation. The Network will design and deliver high-reward feasibility projects to help catalyse rapid system transformation to ensure the agri-food system is sustainable and supports the UK's net zero goal, while enhancing biodiversity, maintaining ecosystem services, fostering livelihoods and supporting healthy consumption, and minimising the offshoring of environmental impacts overseas through trade. The radical scale of the net zero challenge requires an equally bold and ambitious approach to research and innovation, not least because of the agri-food and land system's unique potential as a carbon sink. Our title, Plausible Pathways, Practical and Open Science, recognises the agri-food system as a contested area in which a range of pathways are plausible. Success requires that new relationships between natural and social science, stakeholders including industry, government and citizens, be forged in which distributed expertise is actively harnessed to support sectoral transformation. We will use our breadth of expertise from basic research to application, policy and engagement to co-produce a trusted, well-evidenced, and practical set of routes, robust to changing future market, policy and social drivers, to evolve the agri-food system towards net zero and sustainability. Marshalling our many existing stakeholder links, we will review and evaluate current options and use Network funding to catalyse new partnerships through retreats, crucibles, workshops, online digital networking and scoping studies to develop system approaches to transformation, reframe the research agenda and undertake novel research projects. We will co-design productive and creative spaces that enable the research community to engage with a wide range of stakeholders and thought leaders through the following framework: 7 Co-Is who govern the Network but are not themselves eligible for funding; 9 Year-1 Champions (with new appointments after Year 1) dynamically forging new connections across research communities; 11 Advisory Board members tasked with challenging business-as-usual thinking; and regular liaison with other stakeholders.