Page 10 - National Poultry Newspaper

Global Table’s inaugural event a record success
WITH more than 3000 attendees and a jam- packed program of exhibitors, speakers, young change-makers and more, Global Table set the bar high in its first year.
The first-ever Global Table concluded recently with a record-breaking 3037 people attending the event from 29 countries.
This makes the event the largest of its kind in
the Asia-Pacific region. Delegates included en- trepreneurs, government, food companies, univer- sities and more, with 150 invited buyers from 15
countries also attending. After three days of con- ference sessions, pitch competitions and a trade show at Melbourne Show- grounds, the event fanned out across Victoria on the Friday for three site vis- its focused on innovative
practices.
A waste-themed tour
visited Four Pillars Gin, where the distillery uses by-product to create new food products such as gin marmalade, before mov- ing to Yarra Valley Wa- ter, which processes food waste to create energy.
Participants on a food innovation tour visited CSIRO and Monash Food Innovation Centre to see cutting-edge meth- ods of delivering new
products to market.
The third tour took in the Centre for AgriBio- Science research and the Government of Victo- ria’s On-Farm Internet of
Things Trial.
Former US Secretary
of State John F. Kerry opened the event with a rousing keynote, followed by Dr Howard-Yana Sha- piro of Mars Incorporat- ed and Shama Sukul Lee of Sunfed on the follow- ing days.
They were joined by more than 200 speakers from Australia and the world who shared their expertise on the biggest questions facing the food and agricultural sectors in 2019.
Seeds&Chips – The Global Food Innovation Summit came to Aus- tralia for the first time as part of Global Table, bringing its dynamic mix of speakers, young voices
and interactive program- ming to Melbourne.
Thirty young people be- tween 13 and 19 years old – dubbed Teenovators – opened every conference session with a message of change for speakers and attendees, whether that was on climate change, plastic bags or bees.
Thirteen-year-old Bella Burgmeister from West- ern Australia said, “We are in a climate emergen- cy and we must act now.”
“We are looking for people to inspire us.”
A highlight of the week, taking place in the mid- dle of the conference floor, was Give Me 5!, a series of sessions that gave conference delegates five minutes to speak to leading figures includ- ing Secretary Kerry, Dr Shapiro, CSIRO scientist Dr Mary-Ann Augustin, government ministers and more.
The Give Me 5! conver- sations took place with- out microphones but in full view, with a clock counting down the five minutes.
Anika Molesworth, founder of Farmers for Climate Action, 16-year- old beekeeper Luke de Laeter and entrepreneur Sam Duncan of FarmLab were among the partici- pants.
During the week, CSIRO, Mondelez Inter- national, Food Frontier and the Australian De- partment of Foreign Af- fairs and Trade all made announcements with ex- citing possibilities for the Asia-Pacific region.
Mondelez International is bringing its SnackFu- tures Hub to Australia and New Zealand to re- search and develop sus- tainable snack foods, while thinktank Food Frontier launched a world-first Deloitte Ac- cess Economics report that put a dollar amount on what the alternative protein industry could be worth to the Australian economy.
Thanks to growing con- sumer interest, the indus- try could generate up to $3 billion for the econo- my and create up to 6000 jobs over the next decade.
“The speed of change is faster than our response.” Dr Howard-Yana Sha- piro’s opening line from his keynote on day two reverberated throughout the event, as people ex- plored ground-breaking new ideas for retooling
our agricultural systems. Five pitch competitions happened throughout Global Table, featuring closed-loop systems for greenhouses, solutions for remote communities struggling to access fresh
food and more. Successful startups in
the competitions now get to participate in ac- celerator programs run by Beanstalk AgTech, FoodTech Accelerator (an initiative of Deloitte Italia) and Mondelez In- ternational.
Elsewhere, the Trade Zone featured more than 100 export-ready Aus- tralian businesses show- casing their products to international buyers.
Raw cold-pressed cow’s milk, functional snack foods, specialty coffee, almond milk and more were on show.
A separate program stream tailored to ex- porters discussed trade considerations in China, the rise of better-for-you foods, sustainable pack- aging solutions and the top five food trends to watch.
On day three, food busi- nesses keen to prepare for the future attended a one- off Coles Meet the Team session, where staff from the major retailer spoke.
In the Innovation Pre- cinct, an edible bug vending machine, robot- ics in retail, traceability solutions and VR were on show, as 60 startups took advantage of the chance to put cutting- edge solutions in front of influential investors and decision-makers.
The event ended on a high with the presen- tation of 12 awards to standout innovations and ideas, as well as the an- nouncement of the win- ners of the on-site pitch competitions.
Global Table will return to Melbourne in Septem- ber 2020.
Page 10 – National Poultry Newspaper, October 2019
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