COLLABORATION Insights lead to innovations As a result of the Insights2Innovation project, many agri-food businesses are now exploring new products, brands and business models. The project has already delivered the following: A China and MENA Attractive Cities study: This identified cities in the regions which are most attractive for premium high-value Meet a Young Australian exports, which a number of red meat partners have used to assess market opportunities, explore business model Food Innovator China and MENA (Middle East North Africadesign and pilot high-value products into Fourth-generation producer Michael Shannon (pictured above region). See story on the MENA Attractive left with Federal Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud) runs Cities study on pages 47-49. Lowanna Properties, a 1,500ha sheep and cattle enterprise at Identifying global food trends and innovative Cathcart in southern NSW. Michael, with a group of innovative new markets: Red meat businesses are like-minded producers, has been looking for ways in which exploring high-value opportunities around producers can create linkages directly to consumers through key trends of ‘snacking’ and ‘active ageing’. a more transparent value chain. This has evolved to become N2T Meats (nose to tail). The N2T Meats project has a feasibility Design-led innovation: Processor Teys study near completion, ahead of market evaluation with a Australia (through Value Chain Flagship prototype product. Demonstrations) developed a project to create a sustainable, long-term business Why did you apply for the Young Food Innovators program? model focused on food solutions, not just I hoped it would open my mind up to new opportunities post the for the beef supply chain. farm gate. Industry insights: MLA used learnings from What were the highlights for you? Insights2Innovation to develop two programs The highlights and key learning came from collaboration with of work around innovation capability building different industry sectors, meeting over 65 different speakers, for producers and food innovators. going all over Australia and New Zealand, looking at different opportunities that exist and how people are looking at future markets and running their businesses. Have you made any changes as a result? One of the biggest insights was that I was spending 90% of the time coming up with a solution and 10% of the time defining what a problem was. Now it’s reversed and I feel much more confident in being able to approach a problem and finding the right solution. We are so often fixated on consistently doing the wrong thing right. Through understanding how to define a problem we can do the right thing right from the beginning. What tools have you brought home to your business? I’ve gained confidence in being able to pitch and tell a story because I know exactly the ways and means of approaching problem solving. Young Food Innovators has given me confidence to move into new businesses and new directions with a great support network of people around me. What opportunities do you see from collaborating with other industries? With innovation comes new opportunities and those opportunities are what is going to drive the industry into the future. Through collaboration across industries, we can pick up even the most minor insight which can mean a huge advancement in the industry. lowannaproperties@gmail.com 11