The San Diego State University Alt Protein Project’s first annual San Diego Alt Protein Summit will take place where it was originally conceived on university grounds during the week of GreenFest, an Associated Students program which promotes a series of educational and entertaining events for the SDSU campus community that encourage, advocate, and celebrate sustainability, diversity, and SDSU pride. The first conference will originally celebrate its local roots by connecting regional San Diego strategic planners, researchers, academics, founders, and other visionaries in disciplines pertaining to alternative protein ecosystem building. We aim to aid in aligning the interest of those present through implementing the necessary incentives required for coordinating impactful and fulfilling academic and vocational opportunities. We believe tangible internship, fellowship, educational, research, and entrepreneurship programs can only be justified through initiating this form of intentional stakeholder thought leadership. The free event seeks to recognize San Diego State University’s potential to become a prominent repository of innovation, commercialization, and talent for the rapidly growing alternative protein industry in the region and the global market. From the perspective of being hosted annually by a registered leadership organization on campus, The Alt Protein Project at SDSU, we believe the most obvious next step to support our SDSU peers, alumni, and teachers is to leverage existing networks in close proximity to our academic institution. If we succeed in contextualizing SDSU food system transition within its unique hub of innovators, we can use this baseline to then direct attendees to venture beyond into existing global opportunities.
