Plant-based and cultivated meat in the United States: A review and research agenda through the lens of socio-technical transitions

The past decade has seen an acceleration, globally, in the development of alternative protein products that resemble animal meat products. These products include cultivated and plant-based meat, as well as those derived through fermentation processes. Proponents of alternative proteins claim that they offer opportunities to tackle multiple socio-environmental challenges. However, their development also presents many challenges, which require careful analysis. To this end, this paper addresses the research question: To what extent can the socio-technical transitions literature explain the current state and future potential of plant-based meat and cultivated meat products, including the impacts and challenges associated with these emerging technologies? This paper reviews the literature on alternative proteins from a socio-technical transitions perspective applying the Multi Level Perspective and the Strategic Niche Management approaches, and identifies a research agenda of knowledge gaps and research questions. The review is focused on the United States due to its central role in the development of these technologies. The agenda identifies key questions that can be asked of alternative proteins using a socio-technical transitions framework, and maps them to the niche level, the niche-regime interactions level, and to the heuristic dynamics of the Multi Level Perspective. The findings suggest that meeting the full potential of these technologies requires public investment and long term planning, open access research, more strategic funding, efforts to advance regulation and social legitimacy, innovation in business models, and learning from social movements, other industries, and the visions of fringe stakeholders. This paper demonstrates that examining the scaling and trajectory of alternative proteins from a socio-technical sustainability transitions perspective could offer useful and important lessons and insights into the current and future role of these technologies.