How will we feed the next billion? | Tony's interview from XPRIZE: Future Positive

For over 25 years, XPRIZE has convened the brightest minds from
around the globe to tackle the world’s greatest challenges. One
of the most pressing problems facing humanity today is food
insecurity, and the need for nutritious, affordable, and
sustainably-sourced food has reached critical status.


In this exciting interview with XPRIZE Founder and Executive
Chairman, Peter H. Diamandis, Tony talks about the inspiration
behind the latest competition, the $15M XPRIZE Feed the Next
Billion. This episode is from XPRIZE's own Future Positive
podcast and released with their permission here.


By 2050, Earth’s population will have reached 9.7 billion. The
demand for high protein products is increasing while the impact
from current meat production practices is devastating our planet.
The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened food insecurity, food safety,
and access for many communities around the world. Furthermore,
cities projected to face rapid population growth and wealth
increase are experiencing surges in demand for poultry and fish
as opposed to red meat.


While there is increasing activity in utilizing plant-based and
cultivated approaches to create meat alternatives, more work is
needed to make it widespread. XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion is a
$15M competition incentivizing teams to produce chicken and fish
alternatives that replicate or outperform conventional protein in
structure, versatility, sensory properties, and nutritional
profile, while having a lower comparable environmental footprint.


Tony has made it one of his life's missions to help feed as many
people as possible. His family struggled to put food on the table
growing up, and it was one stranger’s kindness that inspired Tony
to give back as an adult. As a philanthropist, through his
partnership with Feeding America, Tony has provided over 500
million meals in the last 5 years to those in need. He’s on track
to provide 1 billion meals over the next 5 years.


Peter H. Diamandis is the founder and executive chairman of the
XPRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and
operating large-scale incentive competitions. He is also the
executive founder of Singularity University, a graduate-level
Silicon Valley institution that counsels the world's leaders on
exponentially growing technologies.


As an entrepreneur, Diamandis has started over 20 companies in
the areas of longevity, space, venture capital and education. He
is cofounder of BOLD Capital Partners, a venture fund with $250M
investing in exponential technologies, and co-founder and Vice
Chairman of Celularity, Inc., a cellular therapeutics company. He
earned degrees in molecular genetics and aerospace engineering
from MIT and holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.


Diamandis is a New York Times best-selling author, and his newest
book in this series of exponential technologies – The Future is
Faster Than You Think – was released on January 28, 2020. His
favorite saying is “the best way to predict the future is to
create it yourself.”