I'm proud to announce that former @NewHarvestOrg Research Director @KateKruegerPhD is @xprize's new technical expert for their challenge, Feed The Next Billion, a cell-based and plant-based meat challenge for filets and cuts of meat

A 4yr, $15M competition that will incentivize teams to make chicken breast or fish fillet alts that replicate or outperform conventional chicken and fish in: access, environmental sustainability, animal welfare, nutrition & health, taste and texture. https://www.xprize.org/prizes/feedthenextbillion

Thinking of our convos about this 8+ years ago, @RyanBethencourt Finally!!

Digging in a bit. This isn't the first prize for an alt meat. But this one MAKES SENSE - thanks to @KateKruegerPhD's expert contributions alongside the XPRIZE team. Here's why it makes sense:

1) "This competition is solution agnostic, meaning cultivated, plant-based, blended, and other approaches are eligible as long as they meet the competition’s judging criteria."
THIS IS KEY. Cultivated and plant-based should be seen as tool boxes employed to make meaningful alts

We shouldn't be too quick to categorize cultured vs plant-based - it can prevent us from seeing the tech as tools rather than end products.

2) "A $7M Grand Prize will be awarded to the team that develops the most *innovative* and *practical* solution that meets or exceeds the requirements of the competition." >>> Sometimes the alt protein world gets caught in the trap of thinking that innovative = deep tech.

There is SO MUCH MORE we can be doing with plant-based approaches to alt proteins. IMHO we need the field of food science to re-energized - there is enormous entrepreneurial/creative potential in a food science degree. But it's not widely seen as a "prestigious" field (yet)

3) "A bonus prize will be awarded to the team that develops an animal-origin-free growth media at the lowest production cost." >> This is mission critical if we want to realize the promises of cell ag. Otherwise it's tech for tech's sake.

4) "Teams can be formed by anyone, anywhere. They are often startups, university groups, small to midsize companies, high school students, families, or even individuals." >>>> I personally hope the next food revolution won't be VC-funded.

5) "Teams can have any background, including but not limited to scientific and/or technical disciplines... We believe the best new ideas can come from anyone!" >>>> Diversity of thought/approach/expertise is the only way!

6) The timeline is 4yrs - this timeline should make this prize a true prompt for new entrants - hopefully opening up a diversity of participants from around the world.

7) @KateKruegerPhD this is an incredible milestone for the field. This is just the prompt the field needs to remember *what* needs to be solved (animal-free, better for access, env, nutrition) vs. *how* we solve it (cultivated vs cell based). Thank you for your leadership!!!