Research A BEZOS-SIZED FOOTPRINT THE FIRST BEZOS CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE PROTEIN OPENED AT NC STATE A YEAR AGO. WHAT HAS IT ACCOMPLISHED, AND WHAT PLANS ARE ON THE BOOKS FOR THE YEAR TO COME? CO-DIRECTOR WILLIAM R. AIMUTIS FILLS US IN. Bu Lisa M. Keefe, editor in chief C Photography by Becky Lane/ NC State University apping a long career in proteins, Bill Aimutis is the outgoing di-rector of the North Carolina Food the Bezos Earth Fund to be focused on, in our case, biomanufacturing. We’re one of three global centers, the others being in London and Singapore. Part of the reason we were chosen at NC State is that we have a good ecosystem in our state, between the Biotechnology Education Center we have on campus, the Plant Science Initiative, which is a major undertaking that was launched about three years ago. And then the North Carolina Food Innovation Lab, which started six years ago and has been focused on working with entrepreneurs in the plant-based food space. About 50% of our projects involve proteins, whether that’s charac-terizing emerging proteins or working with entrepreneurs that have a product, helping them scale it up and launch it into the marketplace. Alt-Meat August 2025 Innovation Lab (NCFIL) as well as co-di-rector of the Bezos Center at NC State. The latter provides him with the biggest stage yet for helping to build a global al-ternative protein ecosystem and ensure that humankind will have enough to eat in just a few decades hence. Alt-Meat spoke with Aimutis about the center’s first year and plans for the next few. Alt-Meat: You are the director — or soon-to-be ex-director — of the North Carolina Food Innovation Lab. How does the Bezos Center fit into the over-all organizational ecosystem? Where is its focus? WILLIAM R. AIMUTIS: The Bezos Center is a separate entity, funded by 31
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