Roslin Technologies Limited, based at Edinburgh University’s Easter Bush Campus, has won the 2023 Scottish Life Science Award for Animal Health, Agri-tech and Aquaculture at a ceremony in Edinburgh in March 2023.

Roslin Tech is an ambitious agri-tech company specialising in developing and commercialising induced pluripotent stem cells and technology enablers to accelerate the commercialisation of the cultivated meat industry.

With the world facing a growing population and a need for significantly increased protein production, cultivated meat and seafood is developing at pace across the world. Cultivated meat is meat grown directly from animal cells without the need to raise animals and offers the promise of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from food production. The sector is growing rapidly with over 100 companies active today and with billions of dollars of investment. In the UK, there are 17 companies working in the cultivated meat industry.

If cultivated meat is going to be successful, it needs to deliver a great sensory experience and production cost needs to come down. High quality cell lines, growth media and scale up protocols are needed to make cultivated meat safe, affordable, and nutritious. The technologies being developed by Roslin have the potential to accelerate the industry and hopefully see cultivated meat for sale by the end of the decade.

In the last year, Roslin Tech has demonstrating strong commercial progress by showing a deep understanding the market need and agilely adapting a range of products and processes to meet them. Roslin Tech cells are now being used by their customers and partners in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. 

Led by Chief Executive, Ernst Van Orsouw and drawing investment from global players such as Novo Holding and Nutreco as well as continued support from Edinburgh University, Milltrust and Scottish Enterprise, Roslin Tech has expanded rapidly in 2022 and now has one of the largest teams of scientists focusing on developing pluripotent stem cells, growth media and scale up protocols for the cultivated meat industry.