France has become a world leader in the production of insects for animal and fish feeds. Photo courtesy of Ÿnsect.

France has become innovation nation for insect production

FRANCE
Wednesday, July 28, 2021, 07:00 (GMT + 9)

The following is an excerpt from an article published by the Global Aquaculture Advocate:

Leaders in insect farming have the future of aquaculture and the environment in mind

Celebrated as the land of champagne, cheese and high fashion, France is earning a reputation for another homegrown product: les insectes. Some of the world’s leading insect producers are emerging from this tech-forward European nation with innovations that could help advance the aquaculture industry and tackle tough environmental challenges.

“Our mission is to support the sustainable growth of global agricultural systems, by putting insects back at the heart of our food production, and supplying highly performant and sustainable ingredients,” said Clément Ray, co-founder of InnovaFeed, a French biotechnology company and leading insect producer for animal and plant nutrition. “Aquaculture is a growing and sustainable way to put healthy food on our plates, but it faces the growing challenges of increased feed ingredient competition based on growing demand and limited supply.”

With France’s thriving insect industry, it begs the question: what’s driving this European country to surface as an innovation nation?

Fertile ground

As both Ray and the team at Ÿnsect can attest, the French government has played an important role in driving start-up success. Back in 2017, President Macron famously vowed to turn France into “a start-up nation,” promising to cut corporate taxes, reform labor laws and limit regulations for small businesses. The government has since ramped up its “entrepreneurship-boosting efforts in recent years,” which InnovaFeed and Ÿnsect credit to helping kickstart new businesses.

Biotechnology company InnovaFeed, a leading insect producer for animal and plant nutrition, operates this facility in Nesle, France, which has an annual capacity of 15,000 metric tons of insect protein and 5,000 MT of insect oil. Courtesy photo/Global Aquaculture Advocate

“France is indeed a very fertile ground in which innovation can see light,” said Ray. “InnovaFeed benefited from the beginning from the support of the government, the BPI, the local authorities, the ADEME, the Somme department, the Hauts de France region, and Europe to support the implementation of our industrial production sites in the North of France. We benefited from several grants and funding opportunities, but also from specific help to find the perfect location, to navigate and adapt regulations to ensure they are compliant with innovative industries.”

A sizable sum of seed funding stems from the French government and the Finance Ministry has even created a (U.S.) $170 million “bailout” fund to prevent foreign takeovers of French tech start-ups. Bpifrance, France’s public investment bank, is also playing a part, Ÿnsect told the Advocate.

“Launched in 2013 to consolidate an array of state aid and financing to help companies, it is geared towards those with fewer than 5,000 employees, wishing to expand in France and increase their exports,” the company said.

Ÿnmeal and Ÿnoil from Ÿnsect. Courtesy photo/ Global Aquaculture Advocate

While some may consider France to be tiny next to tech-Goliaths in London or California’s Silicon Valley, the country is seeing increased venture capital fundraising for start-ups and incubators are popping up to help entrepreneurs jumpstart business ideas.

“There are many incubators, namely Station F, which is the biggest [start-up campus] in the world,” said Ÿnsect. “As well as the ‘Next40’ from La French Tech, which offers tailored support to French scale-ups capable of becoming world leaders in technology. On an industry level, IPIFF (International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed) is also a great help, as they facilitate the creation and implementation of industry regulation.”

InnovaFeed is an active participant in the “start-up ecosystem,” which Ray said is “very strong in France and supported by the government.”

“We have been selected as part of the French Tech 120, the most promising 120 French young companies, and integrated a special program to help these companies grow,” said Ray. “We are also part of Scale-up Europe, a European network aiming at building the future European Tech Giants, as well as the Unicorns EU group willing to promote the raise of innovation in Europe.”

The Ÿnsect facility in Dole, one of two in France. The company also has a production site in the Netherlands and has plans to build 10 “vertical” facilities around the world. Courtesy photo/ Global Aquaculture Advocate

Turning point

While France may not be an agricultural Silicon Valley just yet, the “start-up nation” motivation has fueled some gains within the insect space. From launching the world’s biggest bug factory to participating in research studies to developing new technologies, leaders like InnovaFeed and Ÿnsect are spearheading ground-breaking projects with implications for the wider aquaculture industry.

“Aquaculture is a young, innovative and growing industry – and over the last couple decades has supported our food systems with ever-more sustainably produced healthy seafood,” said Ray. “Insects represent a way to unlock a huge new feed basket for this industry, with an extremely limited effect on other important resources (freshwater, marine biodiversity, arable land, etc.) and with a distinctively low CO2 [carbon dioxide] output.”

First established in 2016, InnovaFeed has developed two products specifically for the aquaculture market. One is ProtiNova, which is designed to be a replacement for high-quality fishmeal in the diets of salmonids. Later this year, the company will also release NovaGain – a performance ingredient formulated to boost the performance of shrimp across three axes. It also has a carbon dioxide impact at least 50 percent lower than fishmeal and zero impact on the marine environment, according to Ray. (continues...)

Author /Source: Lisa Jackson / Global Aquaculture Advocate  | Read the full article by clicking the link here

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