By 2050, the global population will increase by 35 percent and our need for food poses a unique threat to our future. Although we’re producing more food than ever before, one out of every nine people doesn’t have enough to eat.

Along with the growing demand, climate stressors are affecting food sources, from fisheries to farms. It’s critical that we identify solutions to help feed a hungry planet, promote sustainable agriculture, develop more options for nutrition, and close the divide on food security.

Creative minds from all backgrounds are rethinking our food systems to meet these challenges. As a result of the Chasing Genius challenge, a Maryland teenager’s science project yielded an antibacterial paper that prevents food spoilage, and others are thinking about how to reduce the carbon dioxide pollution that comes from producing grains, dairy, and meat.

Through Chasing Genius, National Geographic brought awareness and inspired millions of everyday people to think of new ideas to feed our growing planet approaching 9 billion people.

Based on the belief that transformational ideas can come from anywhere and anyone, Chasing Genius is a purpose-based community designed to inspire, ignite, and unleash the genius inside each of us to turn ideas into catalysts for positive change in the world.

National Geographic crowdsourced ideas to identify the issues the global community is most passionate about, resulting in an initial challenge aimed at generating solutions to feeding 9 billion, as one of three challenge categories.

To engage the global community, National Geographic developed a rich suite of Chasing Genius-inspired stories that enlightened perspectives and helped contextualize the issues, generate conversations, and drive action. We then challenged the community to submit one minute videos that described their idea to feed a hungry planet for a chance to win $25K to take their visions further.

The Chasing Genius Challenge was announced on May 9, 2017 and was maintained through a multi-tiered content and promotional rollout across broadcast, digital, and social for three months. Consumers were encouraged to join Chasing Genius, submit 1-minute video ideas, and share the challenge with their own networks.

In addition to the 277 posts across National Geographic's social media channels, the brand supplied photo and video assets and copy to strategic partners including more than 1,000 universities, innovation incubators, and food sustainability organizations — extending our reach well beyond National Geographic’s social footprint, generating an additional 8,700 posts with a potential extended reach of 50MM followers.

Voting began four months after submissions opened. The winner of the Feeding 9 Billion category was then announced on September 18, 2017, after videos were judged based on innovation, creativity, viability, and inspiration by the Chasing Genius council.

More than 26,000 members joined the Chasing Genius community; nearly 3,000 people shared videos describing their solutions — 555 in the global hunger category alone; the campaign generated 225M+ impressions, 19M+ video views and 3M+ social conversations — demonstrating that National Geographic drove a global conversation around the notion that one idea can change the world.

The community submitted innovations ranging from milk made with plant-based microbes as a sustainable dairy solution, to an app connecting food suppliers with food banks to redirect surplus and prevent waste. Richard Trimble, won the feeding the world category for a solar-powered device that processes pearl millet, a staple crop in sub-Saharan Africa — alleviating the arduous task of threshing by hand.

In both metrics and mission, Chasing Genius succeeded — generating a rare, coveted level of consumer engagement by tapping into collective passions, and rousing the world to end world hunger.

Chasing Genius was built on the consumer insight that millennials believe they can make the world a better place. In addition to making the platform as accessible as possible, we focused communication on igniting and unleashing an idea — continuously gathering engagement data to fine-tune messaging.

We were able to connect with this broad target audience via a multi-tiered content strategy, which leveraged organic and targeted social, university, and NGO outreach, as well as engagement with maker groups, Nerd Night attendees and influencers.

We optimized participation with world-class storytelling focused on critical hunger issues — including mini-documentaries, quizzes, articles, galleries and interviews — that we shared with our global social network as encouragement.

The strategy culminated with the community generating thousands of 1-minute videos, and four winners receiving $25K each to take their idea further — judged by the Chasing Genius council and voted on by the larger community.

National Geographic has been on the forefront of science and exploration for more than 130 years, investing in the cutting-edge, alongside the world’s top scientists, explorers, photographers, and filmmakers.

For as long as the brand has been publishing, purpose has been a cornerstone of our business model and our ability to engage consumers globally. It’s through our bold, dynamic storytelling that we inspire new ideas, enlighten perspectives, provoke conversations, and create catalysts for innovation and action.

In 2017, as part of an integrated partnership with GSK Consumer Healthcare, National Geographic created the Chasing Genius platform — an initiative designed to inspire and accelerate transformational ideas from consumers everywhere to make their communities, lives, cities, and planet well-nourished and more sustainable.

Inspired by National Geographic’s first scripted series, “Genius,” the platform was envisioned to be a purpose-based collaborative community, where consumers can join, be encouraged to share ideas and ultimately become catalysts for positive global change via an innovative challenge.