AGWA (AgriFood Growth and Water Abundance), a recently launched food and water cluster in Abu Dhabi, has partnered with Swiss alternative protein innovation and production specialists NUOS to commence operations in Abu Dhabi and establish an innovation centre and food manufacturing facilities for alternative protein production.
NUOS AG will create an HQ in Abu Dhabi, with NUOS MENA serving as a central innovation, production and commercialisation hub to facilitate and manage its major projects.
Through the partnership, the two shared that the aim is to establish NUOS as a world-leading independent Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation facility for alternative proteins.
The company will also collaborate with Abu Dhabi-based research and development institutes and shared that it seeks to form partnerships with Abu Dhabi-based universities to build local talent capabilities related to innovative and sustainable food technologies.
Badr Al-Olama, Director General at the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), said: “Once operational, the facility will add scale, diversity and accessibility to our growing food ecosystem, bringing with it real-world benefits that will be immediately felt by consumers.”
Bjoern Witte, Chairman of NUOS, added that NUOS AG was created to accelerate the transition to a sustainable food system.
“Foundational to achieving this goal is creating a giga factory for alternative protein that can meet the global consumer demands for high quality meat alternative products at competitive prices. For the launch of our first giga facility, we have been looking for the right partner who shares the vision, mission and has the ecosystem to drive a global transition,” said Witte.
“Amongst all of the nations’ proposals NUOS received, it was clear from the outset that Abu Dhabi would be the natural partner. Through a combination of their vision, commitment, local infrastructure and long term partnership appetite we felt that we could accelerate this transition to a sustainable food system together, and create the gold standard for the food industry globally,” Witte explained.
