We are pleased to announce that Cellular Agriculture Netherlands (CAN) is entering into a strategic collaboration with Cellular Agriculture Europe (CAEU). This partnership unites our hands-on ecosystem building in the Netherlands with CAEU’s deep public affairs expertise in Brussels.

The Netherlands has established itself as a global pioneer in cellular agriculture, but scaling our local innovations requires a clear, strong voice at the European level. This collaboration is about creating a stronger bridge between national progress and European policy. It is part of a broader coordination effort, where we are investing in closer alignment with the many cellular agriculture organisations across the EU and globally.

What this means for our ecosystem and partners:

● Scaling our ecosystem model: CAN will continue to focus on its core mission: building a world-class ecosystem in the Netherlands across education, research, knowledge sharing, and upscaling. Through this collaboration, we can better connect these Dutch models with EU-wide opportunities.
● A stronger European voice: To safeguard the future of the sector, we are bringing together more organisations and more EU member state activities. Pulling together non-governmental organisations is complementary to the ambition of the Dutch government to create a “frontrunner group” of EU countries in support of cellular agriculture and advocate for EU-level sandboxes and pre-approval tastings (Minister Adema in 2024 and State Secretarty Erkens in 2026).
● Acting as a global connector: CAN will operate as a nimble, collaborative hub, linking Dutch startups, researchers, and scale-ups directly to European decision-makers, regulatory pathways, and global networks.
● Operational efficiency: By streamlining administrative tasks and aligning our working groups with CAEU, we are reducing duplication and freeing up resources to focus on driving direct impact for our stakeholders.

Maresa Oosterman, President at Cellular Agriculture Netherlands said: “Having laid strong foundations in the Netherlands, launching open-access scale-up facilities, creating research groups at several knowledge institutes, developing Master’s and post-graduate education as well as coordinating pre-approval tastings, we are now focused on shaping a predictable, science-based and supportive regulatory and policy framework for food innovation across Europe. As highlighted in the Draghi report, fostering such an environment is vital for Europe’s competitive edge. Partnering with the team at Cellular Agriculture Europe as the European sector’s industry network connects our national progress directly to the broader EU industry and helps to do exactly that”.

Etienne Duthoit, President at Cellular Agriculture Europe said: “I am excited to deepen our collaboration with Cellular Agriculture Netherlands, at a time when the first European companies are preparing for market entry in the EU and globally. I am confident that the increased alignment across industrial scaling, EU policy making and country-level best practices will result in a stronger and more impactful sector, bringing new food options to consumers across the globe”.

While we are closely aligning our operations, both CAEU and CAN will retain their distinct names, websites and activities.

We look forward to working alongside CAEU to ensure that Dutch innovation continues to shape the future of the global food system. For questions, feel free to reach out to us via our contact form.