THE FUTURE OF FOOD: IT'S A BUG'S LIFE

EDIBLE insects and catfish are being served up at a $100,000 Brisbane pitch aimed at solving big-picture global problems.

Brisbane-based food facilities designer Wiley is this week focusing more than ever on fostering innovative solutions to solve global food production and security problems, teaming up engineers with savvy business minds. 

Six teams - from as far as universities in Poland and Canada, and as close as Brisbane - will aim to impress Wiley's Management Team with their innovations to boost global food production as part of the Global Business Challenge.

Some of their ideas include an aquaculture solution that produces market-accepted, cost-effective catfish product to increase consumption in Africa; an eco-friendly portable micro-farm called BugHub; and the use of food science and biotechnology to develop the next generation of nutritional and accepted insect-based foods.

The cherry on top is $100,000 in prizes to go towards commercialising concepts. 

Managing director Tom Wiley says the panel will award the $100,000 in kind Genesis Prize to one or more teams that best demonstrated the potential for a global impact on feeding the world, original and innovative content within the business case, and commercial viability of their food production idea.

"Wiley has long-championed innovation to increase sustainable food production," he says.

"What impresses us most about the projects being pitched is their combination of innovation and simplicity.

"We need to embrace technology and science and push the envelope with new ideas to stem the global food crisis, but we also have to be pragmatic.

"Often it's the simplest ideas that have the biggest impact."

The teams that will be pitching this week are Team Mayisara (India), Team C-Fu (USA & Canada), Team Exatio (QUT, Brisbane), Team Garbage Clinical Insurance (Indonesia), Team BioThinkers (Poland) and Team Fish 4 Africa (South Africa).