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Thursday, 26 April 2018

The business of honey will be the focus of an upcoming Hackathon to address challenges facing the honey industry and explore markets for valuable, but largely untapped honey bee products.

The University of Western Australia is hosting the three day event that will examine how to get international buyers to recognise the value of Western Australian honey and create opportunities for new local businesses.

The honey industry is growing rapidly, with increasing research into the medicinal qualities of the product to meet demand from Asian markets. With honey attracting higher wholesale prices than ever, major local honey producers are doubling hive numbers and improving infrastructure.

Together with the vision to develop a honey tourism route in our state, novel products are needed to market to tourists both locally and internationally.

The Honey Hackathon will review the current state of the WA honey bee industry and create new business opportunities focused on solving current industry challenges.

Industry and academic experts will be on hand to help attendees formulate their business ideas and judge their pitch to a panel of investors. The winning team will be awarded a prize to assist with the creation of their new company.

Professor Thierry Volery from the UWA Business School said the biggest challenge is to make international markets recognise the value proposition of Western Australian honey.

”Western Australian honey is the purest in the world as we have the healthiest bees,” Professor Volery said.

”This is a result of our commitment to quarantine and the honey bees feeding from our vast stretches of endemic flora.”

“Current conditions are optimal to market Western Australia as the source for superior honey, now we need to create new and valuable honey bee products to encourage local and international buyers.”

The Honey Hackathon runs from Friday 18th May to Sunday 20th May at the UWA Business School. The event is open to the public and tickets are available at www.eventbrite.com/e/honeyhackathon-tickets-43872026412 .

Media references

Dr Liz Barbour (CRC for Honey Bee Products)                        (+61 8) 6488 8525/ (+61 4) 06 505 525

David Stacey (UWA Media and Public Relations Manager)     (+61 8) 6488 3229/ (+61 4) 32 637 716

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Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Education — UWA Institute of Agriculture