This week we learned Pat Brown is leaving his role as Chief Science Officer at Impossible Foods to start a new research arm within the company, tentatively called Impossible Labs.
According to an email obtained by Insider, Impossible Labs’ goal is “to focus on the transformative innovation that will propel Impossible Foods to achieve our mission.”
In other words, Brown is building a moonshot factory for the future of food. In fact, the new mission and structure of Impossible Labs sound pretty much like that of X, Google’s not-so-secret secret research arm that exists outside of the company’s core R&D division and incubates new ideas on everything ranging from driverless cars to Internet-by-balloon to diabetes-detecting contact lenses.
The move comes just half a year after Brown stepped away from his role as CEO to become the company’s chief science officer, a move in which he said at the time would allow him to lead “research and technology innovation, strategic initiatives, public advocacy and, most importantly, our mission.”
So why start a new group when, to be honest, he just started a new role six months ago that sounds pretty similar to what he’s focused on at Labs? My guess is Brown found trying to build the future within Impossible’s existing product R&D group wasn’t future-focused enough. Impossible has lots of products now that need continuous iteration and improvement, and iteration and improvement involve a totally different focus and set of processes required for building disruptive breakthrough ideas.
We also can’t ignore that the move may have something to do with the moment Impossible finds itself in, one in which they’ve witnessed some executive departures and a flattening of plant-based meat industry sales. We’ve also seen some criticize Impossible (and Beyond)’s products as too processed, a claim that seems to have resonated with at least some consumers.
While I won’t pretend to be smart enough to figure out any specific scientific breakthrough Brown might come up with next, here are a few high-level guesses on what he might be up to next.
Create New Alt-Protein Building Blocks. Brown’s first breakthrough idea for Impossible – that we could use create a version of heme using plant-based inputs to give a meat analog many of the same attributes of the real thing – was a big idea that has now become a foundational concept for many alternative protein companies. However, as companies like Shiru have shown, there are a whole lot more molecular building blocks out there that could create functional or taste parity to animal-based products. Brown, no doubt wants to find more plant-based building blocks that could deliver sustainable alternatives to animal-based products.
Build Internal Discovery Platform. Speaking of Shiru, the company is gaining traction with its AI-powered approach that is allowing them to create a massive database of potential proteins. The approach contrasts with Impossible’s more traditional (and slow) approach to ingredient discovery. Brown (and Impossible) might be looking to create its own AI-powered discovery engine to speed up its own innovation process that will help uncover the next big idea.
Cellular Agriculture. Brown is famously skeptical of cell-cultured meat, so I think the chances of his company looking at creating cultivated meat or other protein product is pretty low. But, maybe he has an idea for a technology or process breakthrough he’s thinking of that he thinks could be a gamechanger.
Explore Entirely New Food Products, Processes, and Inputs. Impossible’s existing product road map is pretty straightforward and similar to lots of other products out there, but there are no doubt lots of entirely new products we haven’t conceived of yet that can use novel processes and inputs that have yet to be discovered. Maybe Brown has an inkling for another breakthrough idea similar to that of plant-based heme that will change the industry.
Non-Food Products. Impossible has shown they’re happy to move into new forms of food products, whether it’s chicken or milk. But what about products that aren’t food? Creating alternatives to products that use animal inputs would align with Brown’s mission of reducing greenhouse gas and fighting climate change, so maybe he has an idea for products in clothing, cosmetics, or other industries. Impossible Shoes, anyone?
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