Dream BIG, Start SMALL, Move FAST – Building a world first Food innovation hub in Australia

Your mission should you choose to accept is to “Create a brighter future in food manufacturing in Victoria, Australia”. This is what I signed up for six years ago when Mondelez International picked me to lead this opportunity. I remember thinking, “Wow who are these amazing visionary leaders and what an opportunity for me to do something that had never been done before globally.” I have to acknowledge and am grateful for leaders like Rebecca Dee-Bradbury, Simon Talbot, Nicolas Georges, Amanda Banfield for frankly having the guts to do something different, to put the future of the food sector and industry first. It’s a big call to make this early in my reflection, I truly believe a model such this was successful because it was industry led with people from industry who understood the commercial realities for successful innovations into the market place. More importantly we had a bold vision that was ambitious and somewhat daunting, that made us dream and think big. We also started small and moved very fast. This approach allowed us to be nimble and to continue to improve and use principles like Kaizen and design led thinking in creating value by failing fast, fixing fast and cheaply. To ensure a hub is successful it also needs a destination where things actually happen and organisations can come together to play, very important when it’s food – it a living breathing thing and requires infrastructure, tools and expertise to test and launch products. In addition to this, building capability is a must to build the foundation and future sustainability in the sector where organisations can fish for themselves. As I finish and move on from the chapter that was “Food Innovation Centre” (FIC in its many names), I thought I would pen together a few reflections that make me smile, even during the hair tearing moments but mostly proud to be leaving behind a legacy that can enable Australia to lead the charge in creating a unique and globally competitive space for the future of our food sector through innovation. In no particular order, here’s my take of the six-year journey in all its glory from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

First the headline, to entice you to read further on how we did it. Here is the data on the impact or as I say the “dent” as a collective team we made in the Australian Food and AgriFood sectors. They say a picture says it all and this slide shows the impact which did not just result in engagement across the sector but developed innovation and export capability in organisations and individuals to direct their own sustainable growth. Getting to these types of numbers and impact takes an amazing group of people who are what I call the true believers and craved out a self-sustaining hub for the future of Australia’s food sector.

The True Believers – find them they do exist

You have all heard the saying before, there is always a great team be it your direct reports, your peers, your stakeholders or your ecosystem and network. These people are the true believers that can enable even what they initially thought was impossible possible. Over the journey, I have met and partnered with truly exceptionally talented people. Some key skills that stand out for me in all of these people were, wanting to collaborate with others who had a higher purpose and passion, ability to be able to relish and work in highly ambiguous and complex environments, ability to roll up your sleeves from setting the venue to delivering the training programs, being comfortable with not knowing and finding a way or many ways, giving it go and failing, learning and trying again. These skills and capabilities make a venture like starting the FIC possible and truly believing that it can be done is the bond that tied us all together even when it seemed like it was going to fold, a quote that kept us moving at relentless pace was by Simon Sinek – “ A small team, who are committed to a cause bigger than themselves, can achieve absolutely anything”.

Test, Pivot & Learn – Disrupt yourselves before you get disrupted

A journey of both intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship meant we had to have faith and disrupt our own thinking to test our ideas, make it a safe place for the sector and quickly pivot given the big hairy goal of reaching self-sustainability in 5.5 years on a cost plus model. Out of this approach of quick sprints, disrupting ourselves and our service models quickly was imperative if we were going to not only survive but continue to create value and be relevant for the sector. Gathering feedback from our early partners, clients as inputs saw us offer very bespoke and targeted innovation methodologies, approaches to commercialisation that enabled our partners to accelerate and de-risk their innovations to market. To reflect on this approach is easy but starting and doing it this way and being was tough, it is also against the human grain and fundamentals of how organisations operate. Our teams had to not just learn this, be comfortable in it but also influence others to engage and use. The entire FIC model is a living breathing exemplar of test, pivot, learn and probably not a week went past when we did not do this on ourselves and business model. Suffice to say this is where the skills and capabilities I outlined earlier really helped us to continue.

Co-creating across the THREE PLANETS - Industry, Research/Academia and Government

Now if someone said we did this – I will say we tried very hard and some things worked and others did not. I call them planets because they are, everyone on these planets has a different purpose and passion that drives them, objectives to meet that are usually poles apart and not to mention the time zones and realities. This is one space where more needs to be done and will be the key to unlocking Australia’s leadership in innovation and sustainable growth. As a twenty-year industry experienced person and now having spent three years in an academic and research institute, nothing was scarier than transitioning the FIC from Mondelez International to Monash University and the best and worst part was the humans on the planets! I say this with smile and perhaps most of my hair tearing moments happened here too. Thanks to true believers like Joseph Lawrence, Cordelia Selomulya, Shankar Cumarasamy, Ken Sloan, Elizabeth Croft, Mark Banaszak Holl who are visionaries that took many risks that has now enabled the model to continue within Monash University. There are two aspects here, one is time or as I say the time zone, things happen at different time frames on these planets, very rarely will each align, and it takes people from each of the planets to enable this to happen and translators who can speak the different languages of the planets (I spent a lot of time doing this). Finding those who see the value in what you are trying to do, who may not buy into initially but see enough to be able to support, who will take some risks to help you make it happen. Once you have these people, the time zone aspects can be worked out with a lot of patience and thick skin is needed! During my time in industry when I was engaging with Universities (despite with a PhD) I could never truly get to true collaborations, the kind that gets to 1+1 =3 effect. I now have such a greater appreciation of this through the lens of value creation for all parties and at points one must compromise slightly for bigger value creation. The bigger game changing partnerships are formed when this happens otherwise there will be collaboration but its transactional not transformational.

Now the government planet and over the years many people have asked me what the role of government should be in supporting sector growth and development. I think an easy answer and even I have jumped to many times is provide money but it is beyond money from my learning and needs skin in the game. Yes, the State Government of Victoria were true believers, they took a leap of faith and backed an initiative led by Mondelez International and yes, they put money in it – a significant amount at that. However, it was beyond, it was the key people in the team during this time, Tim Ada, Anthony Kennedy, Will Dalton, Melinda Knapp, David Lattina to name a few who were visionary enough to partner in this journey. They and their teams truly supported the initiative, from spreading the word, referring clients, using it as an example of how government can be an active player in innovation models/hubs moving forward but more importantly were true partners in this collaboration and as a team we ensured they were alongside us in the whole journey for better or worse.

Accelerators, Incubators for Start-up’s – the disruptors who will evolve the food sector

As an initial model we were never set up for the raise of start-up's, our time in Monash really enabled this entrepreneurship model which led to creating an ecosystem and support structure for start-up’s. A model that saw network partners coming together to form an end to end model (first again in Australia). As partners we shared the vision, either co-located or provided support of their expertise and capabilities with a vision to grow the pie together. Sounds easy but it was high risk especially in a University environment. Whilst the initial model supported start-ups from all paths, our learning has been about bringing together start-ups with researchers and big food to enable fast traction and scale to market on these game changing concepts. Together with impactful coaching and mentorship, and we have been inundated with people who want to help, give back, and come and learn from entrepreneurs, mind you a lot of these folk are from big food looking at truly being more agile, nimble and making a difference. So, this space still needs nurturing and an opportunity to truly create more ecosystems that enable end to end capabilities. The good news is there are many around the country who are doing this and doing it well – an exciting space for sure!

True Collaboration – moving to 1+1 =3

Ok so probably an overused word now but we continue to be not good at this as a whole. More is needed and barriers, mindsets and cultures need to be changed for it to happen. In our experience, we had countless “partners” who overtly say that want to collaborate with us, initially we were excited as the spirit of collaboration runs through our veins however we quickly learnt that for many collaborations were one-way, either access to our know-how, brand credentials, networks, clients or preach on collaboration but have very few examples to show. Despite this we set up a strong network of partners in the current model at Monash, these businesses are true believers and partners together (perhaps this is the key), these partners form the end to end network that can enable an organisation to go from opportunity identification to launch in a market place including research and technology translation. Together we have started to look for more higher value co-created opportunities that lead to 1+1 =3 effect for both organisations. Over the years, we have fielded so many calls on expertise, capabilities and have been called the one stop shop. However, this is was not our goal and more about how we best leverage and sweat each other’s capabilities and for it to be successful all parties must want to grow the pie bigger together so there is more share for everyone.

Building learning agility and capability – shifting mindsets with thought leadership

When we first started the FIC, a big opportunity we saw was in building and sharing capabilities that were practical enough to apply the next day especially for SMEs. These “how to” workshops moved from “how to innovate for sustainable growth” to “how to bring new products to life”, “how to de-risk your innovations to market”, “how win with Asian consumers”, “how to create value added agrifood products”, “how to export into China” to name a few to the future of food and agrifood. More than 4200 individuals (from big food, retailers, SMEs, Start-ups, researchers, academics, government, growers, farmers, founders and students) have come to learn with us over the years and the clear feedback we keep getting this on the applicability of the tools and techniques that are practical and can be applied quickly into businesses. The best part is when we see the outcomes of these training into more robust innovation pipelines, better and more successful products that stick longer offline and online. The additional sweetener has been training students together with industry, the young talent that will one day choose food as their career of choice and we do need to attract the brightest and best to the sector. Do watch this space as Monash brings together sector relevant programs. One way we tried to bring the research planet and industry planets closer was through the future of food series around key themes or issues in the sector such as food fraud, getting value from waste, personalised nutrition, high value premium foods for export. Having a finger on the pulse with our industry partners meant we could be timely and help them see some of these opportunities but also to jolt thinking on the possibilities. At the same time working with our researchers who were solving game changing global challenges facing the future of food, we could bring the two together and start conversations and better yet those 1+1=3 collaborations to happen. However, we knew we needed to do more and ultimately shift mindsets and so we took on the challenge to share thought leadership through various speaking forums both nationally and internationally, this was important to help shift those mindsets on a larger scale, create momentum and future collaboration opportunities on the future of food. Not to mention the upside was great PR, marketing and business development for our movement!

Be the deli for Asia – create high value premium foods that win the hearts and minds of Asian consumers

As a food sector we have come a long way in setting our eyes to Asian markets. The opportunity though needs to be about really creating a point in difference whilst leveraging our great credentials for clean, green, safe and good provenance stories. All of these attributes are now entry for Australia like many others. We do need to work together as brand Australia and ensure we can be competitive globally with our food, beverage and agrifood products. The only way to do this is clearly high value premium goods due to our high labour and utility costs and complex supply chains. In our experience, more companies need to understand this shift in mindset from just growing commodity and converting to sell. It has to start with understanding and wining the hearts and minds of the Asian consumer and remember Asia is very diverse and different even within each country. One also needs strong capability and expertise and these comes in having the right network partners to support both in Australia and in market. Australia has a huge opportunity to win in export we just need to do it fast, together and learn from our neighbours who have been doing it so well.

Big Food – enabling scale with rapid and game changing innovations

You definitely cannot win the future of food without big food, these guys are great at what they do, they have scale and reach. It is interesting when we set out on the journey, our focus was SMEs mostly being nimble ability to pivot quickly. Over time though 60% of our services and research translation are to big food. We are seeing changes in these organisations, an opportunity to do things differently, to learn from their smaller counterparts and more importantly disrupt themselves before others do. It’s still a journey however big food has ability to drive impact within communities. Whilst there are many obstacles within big food, some of these are the same when I worked in them (always makes me smile). We are seeing more now adapting, ensuring full cross functional alignment and moving fast with decisions that impact innovations to market. It is early days but our methodology of using a design sprint approach to fast track and de-risk innovation to market is gaining traction. In our latest newsletter (on our website) outlines further detail if you are interested. Also, incubator models such as Chobani, MARS, Coke to name a few continue to pop up as a way for big food to accelerate and maintain their market position before they become disrupted by the start-ups and SMEs hot on their heels.

The Future of Food & AgriFood – Australia can play a leading role

This is one area that truly excites and one I will continue to focus on in my next chapter. Rather than point out the areas, I would like to share a few mechanisms that can enable Australia to become a leader in this space…if it wants to (that’s a whole other paper). We now live in high velocity change or the age of disruption (another word thrown around a lot). The consumer is ever changing and becoming more conscious across the generations, no longer is it just the millennials, its boomillenials and xermillenials (boomers or x’ers who feel guilty on the state of the planet and want to do something about it). For brands and organisations to be a step ahead, we need to take a foresight led approach not merely an insight approach as most are these days. These needs to not just look at trends, macro, market, consumer, planet forces, economics, essentially triple bottom line etc but also the latest developments in science, research, technologies. Colliding these together can enable organisations to find guiding lights for their current business models and innovation pathways. In the case of Food, food tech and ag tech will bring the biggest shift in the way we grow, manufacture, sell and consumer food. This does not happen sitting inside a fish bowl listening to feedback on your innovation concepts, it happens by looking at data driven trends, then quickly testing these (yes through those design sprint type approach) and seeing what sticks. We used to talk about robust innovation pipelines, it’s no longer just robust anymore its about sustainable growth and about looking at direct communication between brands and consumers that result in products that are “good for me and good for we”. Speaking of consumers, they are even more savvy then ever and will demand and look for evidence-based reasons to believe in your product or service, the marketing fluff will no longer work. There are always many possibilities to unlock this and a critical one is our industry and research/academic folk need to solve for this and co-create value together to stay ahead of the curve.

So what..now what

My favourite saying, as I am always saying this to myself and my teams (I can see their eyebrows raised now). In the spirit of collaboration and for a sector that I am deeply passionate about, I wanted to share these reflections. They may or may not resonate with you on your journey but I hope you can glean something from the journey that was. Of course, journey’s never finish and there is always another destination to navigate to. Monash Food Innovation is now fully self-sustainable (yeah, we did it) has a great parent in Monash University and a world-famous legacy to build on with a great team that absolutely can make this happen. I will continue to be its biggest supporter and share and spread our learnings and stories as it’s through these we make the Australian Food Sector even better. THANK YOU, to all who have touched, been part and participated in the six journey of the Mondelez Food Innovation Centre/Monash Food Innovation Centre/Monash Food Innovation (yes told you many names) I hope and encourage you to continue and support the future model. Lastly to Australia, one to be proud that we started something world first right here in our backyard and the whole world needs to know…we did it together and there is always opportunity for more as there are so many possibilities across the food value chain – are you ready?