biotope by VIB Position Paper Argues Food Biotech Must Build New Systems, Not Optimise Old Ones

Belgian biotech incubator biotope by VIB has published a position paper setting out an investment framework for what it terms “planetary health biotech,” with food identified as one of two domains where biology can have the most impact. The paper argues that biotech delivers value only when it creates fundamentally new production pathways, not when it incrementally optimises existing ones.

Founded in 2022 by the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), the Ghent-based incubator has backed 16 European startups to date across food, agriculture, and materials. Its food-focused portfolio includes PFx Biotech, which produces bioidentical human milk proteins through precision fermentation; Probitat, a developer of fermented plant-based ingredients; and Shelfion, which provides microbial testing for the food industry.

Reducing dependence on fragile supply chains

The paper argues that food is an area where biology can matter most by reducing dependence on land, weather, chemicals, and fragile supply chains, rather than by marginally improving existing systems. It cites portfolio companies AmphiStar, which produces biosurfactants from waste streams, and Lantana Bio, which produces natural pigments through microbial fermentation, as examples of biotech offering alternatives to crop-based supply chains exposed to climate volatility.

biotope by VIB Position Paper Argues Food Biotech Must Build New Systems, Not Optimise Old Ones — © biotope by VIB

The document also addresses the impact of recent disappointments on investor sentiment. “Breakthroughs have been accompanied by highly visible disappointments, especially in areas like alternative proteins. This has increased investor scepticism, not because biology failed, but because expectations around timelines, market readiness, and value capture were misaligned,” the paper states.

What makes biotech investable

According to the document, investable biotech companies replace fragile systems rather than optimise them, integrate into existing value chains, have a credible path to economic viability, and are built with scale in mind from the start.

Cindy Gerhardt of Planet B.io is quoted in the paper: “If you ask me, for biomanufacturing to be implemented at scale, we need a tipping point, a real economic or societal urgency. When climate change drives up crop prices, and geopolitical instability affects costs or availability of energy or raw materials, Europe’s access to food, medicines, and critical chemical building blocks may come under increasing pressure. In that context, biotech solutions will shift from being a nice-to-have to becoming a strategic necessity.”

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Reducing dependence on fragile supply chains

What makes biotech investable

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