The Vision
Growing premium brands
Our team seeks your support for an industry-led research program to deliver evidence validating premium Australian brands.
Our vision is for:
- Projects spanning the brand value chain linking consumer understanding with distinctive Australian attributes.
- Realising Australia’s unique opportunity to grow a resilient food and agribusiness sector based on high-value premium products.

Australian food companies need to re-think and re-position their products in the global market through delivering unique, high value distinctive Australian food products to the world. The opportunity is to reposition to one of the world's premium delicatessens, developing brands and products that are reassuringly expensive.~ Mike GidleyThe University of Queensland
Case study
Karen Sheldon Catering with the support of Innovation Connections sought to improve the shelf life and nutritional value of frozen food products by using native Australian additives and plant extracts to replace artificial preservatives and other chemical additives used to prevent the oxidation of frozen food. The project was made possible by Innovation Connections.

The commercial potential of Australian native plant foods is due to their potent bioactivity, which is a result of their phytochemical composition. The challenge is the retention of these bioactive properties during processing, packaging and storage, when used as functional ingredients.~ Yasmina SultanbawaSenior Research Fellow, The University of Queensland.
News & Events
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Growing the Growers Workshops
Australian Native Food & Botanicals (ANFAB) in collaboration with Farming Cooperatives Australia are thrilled to announce a National roadshow working towards Integrating indigenous cultural knowledge and strengthening the industries understanding and appreciation of the uniqueness and incredible array of Australian native species…
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Building a native food industry in Australia
The University of Adelaide and The Orana Foundation, founded by chef Jock Zonfrillo, have announced a major new research partnership to support the development of an Australian native food industry. Waite research will play a key role in partnership projects centred on…
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Smashing it! Avocado innovation receives international coverage
A world-first innovative plant growing technique that is set to double Queensland’s avocado production and smash the global shortage of avocado trees has received a $636,000 grant through the second round of the Palaszczuk Government’s Advance Queensland Innovation Partnerships program. Read more
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UQ ranked number one for food science in Australia
The University of Queensland was ranked as the top Food Science & Technology research institute in Australia in the Shanghai Ranking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2017. Globally in Food Science and Technology, UQ ranks 39th in the world. No other Australian University…