Agnès Pannier-Runacher, French Minister Delegate for Industry, visited the largest insect protein production site in the world: the InnovaFeed plant located in Nesle (France). This visit was an opportunity for Agnès Pannier-Runacher to discuss with Aude Guo and Bastien Oggeri, co-founders of InnovaFeed, about the “France Relance” plan, from which the Nesle plant has benefited. InnovaFeed places diversity and inclusiveness at the heart of its model
Paris, February 11, 2022 – InnovaFeed, the leading biotech insect producer for animal and plant nutrition, received a visit from a delegation led by Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister Delegate for Industry, at its Nesle (France) site.
The Nesle plant benefits from breakthrough technologies developed by InnovaFeed, combining robotics and artificial intelligence. 3,000 sensors are scattered throughout the plant. Combined with optical counting systems, they optimize the rearing conditions of the 20,000 eggs collected every second and give the InnovaFeed plant in Nesle a production capacity of 15,000 tons of protein per year.
“I salute the progress made by Innovafeed. This industrial start-up has developed in five years, creating nearly 500 direct and indirect jobs, around a project that is good for our planet and good for our food independence! The extension of the Nesle plant represents an investment of 50 million euros in the Somme region, which we are supporting with 4.5 million euros from the France Relance plan. It is an exemplary illustration of our policy of industrial recovery in the regions and the development of sectors of the future,” said Agnès Pannier-Runacher at a press conference following the visit.
Since its inauguration last November, the InnovaFeed plant in Nesle has continued to expand and now employs 65 people. By the end of the year, it will employ more than 100 people and the number of indirect jobs generated in the region will be more than 400.
“The results are very positive,” adds Bastien Oggeri, co-founder of InnovaFeed. “We are the only ones in the world to operate an insect protein production site on this scale. Our technology and our unique model – based on industrial symbiosis and co-location – allow us to offer the best environmental performance on the market with a carbon footprint 80% lower than our competitors.”
InnovaFeed has developed a 100% circular, zero waste system, but its mission goes far beyond that. The company wants to positively impact society and places diversity and inclusiveness at the heart of its model.
“As a deeptech company, we employ 80% of engineers, scientists and technicians,” highlights Aude Guo, co-founder of InnovaFeed. “On this International Women in Science Day, a day promoted by the UN to encourage women to enter this field, we are proud to underline, in the presence of the French Minister Delegate for Industry, that since the beginning of InnovaFeed’s adventure, women have played a decisive role. The first people to join us, to take the risks and to carry the project on its trajectory have been more often women, they occupy today 45% of the management positions, and this is only the beginning!”
