AGRI-FOOD INDUSTRY ACCELERATOR
The Agri-Food Industry Accelerator aims to offer new opportunities for commercially-driven R&D research by facilitating access to commercial space-based platforms in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Focus Areas
We help you to make use of the space environment to accelerate research and development in the agriculture and food industry.
The Agriculture and Food Accelerator is focused on 3 primary categories:
- Plant nutrition and health
- Crop management and monitoring
- Food behaviour, processing, and packaging
Within these categories, we have seen big interest in the following themes:
- Remote sensing especially related to soil health
- Water management
- Sustainability
And ultimately, we are focused on dealing with the hardest issues the terrestrial industry is facing:
- Increasing crop yields
- Better monitoring techniques
- Creating drought resistant and hearty plants
- Plant microbes
- Food optimization and formulation
Benefits of Microgravity for Your R&D
Microgravity and the extreme conditions of space, such as high radiation levels, can help us solve the biggest challenges in terrestrial agriculture and food including heat & cold tolerance, crop diseases, soil health, food processing and sustainable packaging.
This is possible because in space we have:
- Different behaviour of living organisms with elements like changes in gene expression, morphological modifications, and changes in cellular physiology.
- Microbes are more virulent which helps understanding how to create better methods for treating and preventing plant diseases.
- Earth satellite observation & remote sensing solutions can aid in optimal crop monitoring and management.
- Microgravity’s effects on sedimentation, separations, flow profiles and novel material productions can support better food manufacturing and packaging processes.
Ultimately, space solutions will help improve crop yields, fight plant disease, improve soil health and optimise food processing and packing solutions including creating green alternatives.
All these changes are needed right now, and you can be the first in your industry to innovate, making use of all the opportunities that space provides.
What Can The Accelerator Do For You?
Drive Innovation
Provide a competitive edge in the market
Offer technical, business, and commercialisation expertise
Grant access to microgravity/space-based R&D facilities
Enable new cross-sector partnerships
Provide funding contributions and explore additional funding sources
About STAM and SCM Europe
To support innovation in the agri-food sector, STAM, in partnership with SCM Europe, brings experience in orchestrating innovation ecosystems and in developing commercial space applications.
With their support, organisations are supported from early-stage ideas through to commercially viable solutions, connecting agri-food market needs with space capabilities.
Phase One
Astrobiome is developing microbiome-based solutions to improve human health, longevity and sustainable food systems. By harnessing beneficial microorganisms, the company aims to create products that support gut health, enhance crop resilience and improve the nutritional value of food.
Through participation in the Accelerator, Astrobiome explored how microgravity can be used as a unique R&D environment to better understand microbial behaviour and unlock new opportunities for product development. The programme provided commercialisation support, access to spaceflight opportunities and connections across the space ecosystem, helping the company translate scientific research into potential commercial applications.
The project successfully progressed from concept development to an ISS mission in 2025, demonstrating how terrestrial companies can leverage space-enabled research to accelerate innovation and strengthen their competitive position in emerging markets.
Participation in the Accelerator also helped Astrobiome refine its business case, expand its international network and identify future opportunities at the intersection of microbiome science, health, agriculture and space exploration.
🗓️🚀 Astrobiome’s ISS experiment launched aboard Northrop Grumman’s NG-23 mission in August 2025 and conducted in-orbit operations with Yuri SpaceTaxi on the International Space Station during the second half of 2025. Follow-on R&D activities and commercial applications are under development.
Learn more about Astrobiome here.
Sophie’s Bionutrients is pioneering the production of sustainable microalgae-based protein ingredients for the food industry, with applications spanning alternative dairy, alternative meat, nutrition and future space food systems.
Through participation in the Accelerator, Sophie’s Bionutrients leveraged microgravity as a unique R&D environment to investigate how gravity influences the growth, nutritional composition and protein production of microalgae. The resulting in-space experiment aboard the International Space Station aimed to generate insights that could help improve production efficiency, product performance and future scalability.
The Accelerator provided support in developing the commercial case for space-enabled R&D, helping demonstrate how a terrestrial food technology company can use space research to accelerate innovation and strengthen its competitive position in a rapidly growing global protein market.
By connecting sustainable food production with space-enabled research, Sophie’s Bionutrients is helping demonstrate how microgravity can become a valuable tool for developing the next generation of food ingredients and resilient food systems for both Earth and future exploration missions.
🗓️🚀 ISS experiment (SOPHONSTER) successfully launched to the ISS aboard SpaceX CRS-32 in April 2025 and completed its in-orbit campaign, with samples returned to Earth for post-flight analysis; follow-on activities under evaluation.
Learn more about Sophie’s Bionutrients here.
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