The SFFACCEL project is part of an initiative that aims to create a more connected innovation system across Europe. The project includes 11 higher education institutions, three research and business centres, one nationwide entrepreneurial association, and two European regional valleys. SFFACCEL’s mains objectives are to: 1. Develop an open and gender-inclusive university and incubator framework, fostering technological innovation that leads to the creation of new business. This will be achieved by improving collaboration and co-creation within and between European regions and their higher education institutions with a focus on improving how the universities educate their students and support innovative business to start. The Start for Future Open Incubation Programme will be delivered to support students and others with early-stage startup ideas to develop their projects. 2. Develop new regional areas of innovation in Europe and enable them to connect more easily with other innovation areas. This will be achieved though the SFFACCEL model of co-creation which works both on-site and online to link universities, researchers, businesses and entrepreneurs with incubators and other infrastructure that supports the creation of innovation businesses. 3. Scale and sustain SFFACCEL as a European-wide cooperative for innovation and entrepreneurship, the Start for Future alliance. This will be achieved by ensuring Start for Future has value for educators, researchers, and entrepreneurs in industry to encourage them to participate. Achieving these objectives will help to create a sustainable model that endorses responsible entrepreneurs, innovators, start-ups, and spin-offs as the drivers of a future where technology and innovation serve people, society, and the planet, our planet with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations driving the process. By 2024, SFFACCEL will transform into a SFF European Cooperative Society and together with other partners by 2030 involve 100 HEIs, train over 20,000 innovation and entrepreneurial talents, support 1000 startups, create 300 new startups/spinoffs, and create 50 regional valleys, and doing so become the biggest entrepreneurial initiative in Europe driven by HEIs.

The SALT-SUST project is a collaboration between Queen Margaret University and several food companies (Macphie, Bells, Baxters, Peacock Salt, Shoda Sauces and Tai Hua). The project proposes a game-changing solution to significantly accelerate the reduction of salt consumption in the UK and its dramatic impact on health and the NHS. The strategy is based on the development of soy sauce cake (SSC), an underexploited by-product from the soy sauce industry, into a novel salt substitute. Meeting Public Health England's Salt Reduction Targets for 2024 (GW-1435 publication) poses a number of challenges to the industry, as in addition to saltiness, salt is key to overall flavour, colour, texture, shelf-life and is inexpensive. There is currently no salt reduction strategy that meets all these challenges due to cost, acceptability (flavour loss, off-flavours, clean label issues) or health concerns. A preliminary study carried out at QMU showed that SSC has the potential to meet these challenges. It is a natural material (solid residue obtained following mechanical pressing of fermented soybeans), its processing is cost-effective and it contains high levels of umami compounds providing flavour-enhancing properties which counterbalance flavour loss at reduced-salt levels. The project aims to develop novel sustainable and cost-effective salt-reducing ingredient (Shoda Sauces) and blend (Peacock Salt), as well as competitive salt-reduced products meeting the 2024 salt level targets, including bakery mixes and savoury sauces for the catering and food service industries (Macphie), pastry and meat pies (Bells) and soups (Baxters). This early-stage project will assess the feasibility of the strategy based on technical, sensory, sustainability, cost, legislative and logistical aspects. The reproducibility of the SSC material across the industry will be assessed by comparing SSC ingredients from Shoda Sauces (UK) and Tai Hua (Singapore). The strategy is targeting commonly eaten products to ensure the health benefits are widely accessible and at affordable prices due to the cost-effectiveness of SSC. Such development will reduce the financial burden of (reduced high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease on the NHS. The SALT-SUST project also proposes a game-changing solution to the dramatic environmental impact of SSC disposal as industrial waste. 110,000 tonnes pa is produced worldwide but only a fraction is used as low-value stream (animal feed, fertiliser) due to lack of systematic upcycling process. The project will benefit the industry partners and will in turn create opportunities for wider industry to adopt the strategy, benefit economically and create jobs.

Develop an open and gender-inclusive university and incubator framework, fostering technological innovation that leads to the creation of new business. This will be achieved by improving collaboration and co-creation within and between European regions and their higher education institutions with a focus on improving how the universities educate their students and support innovative business to start. The Start for Future Open Incubation Programme will be delivered to support students and others with early-stage startup ideas to develop their projects. Develop new regional areas of innovation in Europe and enable them to connect more easily with other innovation areas. This will be achieved though the SFFACCEL model of co-creation which works both on-site and online to link universities, researchers, businesses and entrepreneurs with incubators and other infrastructure that supports the creation of innovation businesses. Scale and sustain SFFACCEL as a European-wide cooperative for innovation and entrepreneurship, the Start for Future alliance. This will be achieved by ensuring Start for Future has value for educators, researchers, and entrepreneurs in industry to encourage them to participate. Achieving these objectives will help to create a sustainable model that endorses responsible entrepreneurs, innovators, start-ups, and spin-offs as the drivers of a future where technology and innovation serve people, society, and the planet, our planet with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations driving the process. By 2024, SFFACCEL will transform into a SFF European Cooperative Society and together with other partners by 2030 involve 100 HEIs, train over 20,000 innovation and entrepreneurial talents, support 1000 startups, create 300 new startups/spinoffs, and create 50 regional valleys, and doing so become the biggest entrepreneurial initiative in Europe driven by HEIs.

Led by the Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation (SCFDI) based at Queen Margaret University, the PALM-ALT project aims to provide a game-changing solution to the environmental issues associated with the food industry's dependency on the over-cultivation of palm. The project is led by Julien Lonchamp (lecturer in food science at QMU) and Catriona Liddle (new product development manager at the SCFDI) and is carried out in collaboration with industry partners AAK, Nairn's and Greggs. Due to its unique lipid composition allowing it to be solid at room temperature and its low production costs, palm oil has become the main functional fat ingredient across the food industry, including the bakery sector in which it is used for its texturising, shortening, foam stabilisation and mouthfeel properties. However, due to the devastating environmental impact of palm over-cultivation on deforestation and climate change, the industry is looking for sustainable alternatives. Alongside efforts to develop more sustainable palm cultivation practises, current palm fat replacement strategies have led to a number of commercial products. However their impact and expansion are limited due to health-related concerns including high saturated fat content and the presence of trans fatty acids. The PALM-ALT solution is based on a novel combination of sustainable ingredients (linseed processing co-product and beta-glucan), which when processed in specific conditions is able to mimic palm fat functionality, allowing to replace it with healthier rapeseed oil (low in saturated fat and high in polyunsaturated fat). In 2020 the team completed a phase 1 project which demonstrated the technical feasibility of the approach. This current phase 2 project aims to design prototypes of the novel palm fat replacer and the novel palm-free bakery applications (pastry, cake, biscuit and oatcake) at pilot scale and to test them at manufacturing scale at the industry partners with a view to commercialising the products at the end of the project. The PALM-ALT proposal aims to significantly contribute to a more sustainable food industry by: * reducing its dependency on the over-cultivation and importations of palm fat via the development of healthier palm-free products with potential to capture significant segments of the functional ingredient and bakery markets * contributing to the recovery of the industry partners from the COVID-19 pandemic via the added market advantage of these healthier new products * developing a linseed processing co-product currently used as animal feed (defatted linseed meal from oil extraction) into a high-value ingredient

Led by the Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation (SCFDI) based at Queen Margaret University, the PALM-ALT project aims to provide a game-changing solution to the environmental issues associated with the food industry's dependency on the over-cultivation of palm. Due to its unique lipid composition allowing it to be solid at room temperature and its low production costs, palm oil has become the main functional fat ingredient across the food industry, including the bakery sector in which it is used for its texturising, shortening, foam stabilisation and mouthfeel properties. However, due to the devastating environmental impact of palm over-cultivation the industry is looking for sustainable alternatives. Alongside efforts to develop more sustainable cultivation practises, current palm fat replacement strategies have led to a number of commercial products, however, their impact and expansion are limited due to health-related concerns including high saturated fat content. The PALM-ALT solution is based on a novel combination of ingredients (linseed processing co-product and beta-glucan), which when processed in specific conditions is able to mimic palm fat functionality, allowing to replace it with healthier rapeseed oil. This phase 1 project will seek to demonstrate the technical feasibility of processing this ingredient mix into a palm fat replacer and to incorporate this novel ingredient in a range palm-free bakery applications including cake, biscuit and oatcake. This project will pave the way for the development of healthier palm-free bakery products, which will allow partner companies to capture a significant segment of their relevant bakery sectors, thus contributing to their recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to reducing the bakery sector's dependency on the over-cultivation of palm and importations of palm fat.