Against the background of the General Assembly of the UN and Climate Week NYC, Alfa Laval backed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Denmark’s Technical Institute and North Carolina State University in the USA to join two of the world’s strongest innovation ecosystems to develop biosolutions for food.

Building on this international commitment to innovation, the collaboration quickly moved from agreement to action. Just two weeks later, on October 8, 2025, the partners were already taking steps to act on the agreement when Alfa Laval hosted a visit by members of the North Carolina biosolutions innovation ecosystem to Alfa Laval’s site just outside Copenhagen in Denmark. The delegation of more than 20 visitors was a mix of academia and state decision-makers, who came to Denmark for a week, meeting like-minded organizations and government representatives.  

The agreement marks a significant milestone in connecting two of the world’s most dynamic biosolutions hubs, Denmark and North Carolina, to unlock the full potential of bioprocessing. The goal is to develop nutritious and healthy functional foods that can help combat noncommunicable diseases, reduce environmental impact, and address malnutrition by enriching food with nutrients, flavour, and appeal.  

The collaboration comes on the back of Alfa Laval announcing the creation of a new Food Application & Innovation Centre in Copenhagen. This will support food producers in developing new kinds of food and scale them to industrial production for a growing global population while minimizing environmental impact.  

“Bioprocessing builds on the use of fermentation, which has been used to make food for thousands of years,” says Johan Agrell, Strategic Business Development Manager for Alfa Laval’s Food & Water Division. “Now, with precision fermentation and biomass fermentation, we are taking it to a new level where we can produce protein as a food ingredient with a dramatically reduced climate footprint.” 

The objective of the initiative is to develop bioprocessing and production methods. Alfa Laval has its global business headquarters for its food and water businesses in Copenhagen and has had a presence in the USA since 1878. The company is now actively engaging in this initiative alongside other Danish companies and academia to foster collaboration with like-minded businesses, academic institutions, and policymakers.  

“The general idea is making a connection between two strong ecosystems. Denmark is a frontrunner in terms of the green transition with a strong connection to agriculture, plant-based food solutions and biotechnology, while North Carolina is a leading biotechnology hub in the States,” says Johan Agrell. “Here at Alfa Laval, we are proud to be part of Denmark’s drive to find green solutions and we are happy to see that the collaboration is off to a good start.”

The North Carolina delegation visiting the Innovation House

The Alfa Laval site in Copenhagen is already home to The Alfa Laval Innovation House, which offers facilities and expertise for start-ups to develop new sustainable solutions for the challenges facing companies to feed and power the world while protecting its environment. 

“This ethos fits exactly with the collaboration between the DTI and NCSU, and we were delighted to showcase just what we can achieve and what has been achieved already,” says Johan. “If we are going to find solutions to the big challenges to enable food security, we need to all work together, and this is another step in the right direction to achieving that. 

 “The Danish ecosystem is a great example of doing things well in this space, and together with our new partners in North Carolina, I feel confident that we can really move the needle.”