Innovation in the food sector has a wide horizon of possibilities ahead to respond to the challenges of the future. ODS Protein is a startup based in Vigo and focused on the production of alternative proteins with high nutritional value, obtained from fermentation and intended to be incorporated as an ingredient in different food products.

Behind the project we find Iria Varela and Martín Rodríguez, two biologists who met while studying at the University of Vigo. In the last course of the degree, in the subject of business creation, they joined forces and thought of a business proposal related to the food industry and obtaining proteins for a vegan diet. "At that moment we realized the need and the impact of protein production worldwide," explains Iria Varela. That is how the seed of the research that today is materialized in ODS Protein began.

Biotechnology, innovation and sustainability are the three pillars of the company, whose mission is to provide solutions to two major challenges: the availability of food, which is a challenge for the future due to the world population estimates made by the FAO, and the need for sustainable production. "ODS was born from the challenge of seeking new ways of food production to meet the demand that already exists and will continue to grow in the coming years," explains Iria. "In addition, faced with the pollution of today's industry, we seek to contribute to doing more with less, leaving the smallest possible carbon footprint," she continues.

The first major milestone in the company's trajectory was in 2019, when they were selected for Incuvi Vigo, the support program for technology-based business initiatives of the University of Vigo. Throughout their trajectory, they also had the support of the Galician Innovation Agency and the BioIncubaTech program.

In 2020 they made the leap to the Business Factory Food (BFFood), the accelerator of the Galician food sector, promoted by the Xunta de Galicia and the Food Cluster (Clusaga). "We started in the acceleration phase and with the funding granted by the program, we went from paper to the physical and tangible reality of being able to verify that what we had in mind could be carried out," says Iria.

Currently, they are participating again, now in the consolidation phase, with which they are completing the pre-industrial stage in order to make the leap to the market. "The Business Factory Food allows us to be in direct contact with companies in the sector for which, in many cases, the solution we are developing could be an option, so we can get as many opinions as possible," says Iria. Added to this is "the value of entering an ecosystem in which you are always accompanied, developing solutions from which all Galicia can benefit and oriented to the challenges of the most imminent future, identified by Clusaga".

ODS Protein's future prospects are encouraging. As of 2022, they already have Viscofan, the world's leading meat food casing company, as a strategic partner. "We are producers of ingredients. An alliance with companies that want to bring our proteins to the market in the form of different food formats is essential," he says. Now, the immediate challenge "is to prepare applications that are tasty and that the consumer will like so that we can get an idea of what form this ingredient will take once it reaches the supermarket".