Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Tungsram takes up Elon Musk’s USD 6 bln challenge

Tungsram takes up Elon Musk’s USD 6 bln challenge

Hungarian technology innovator Tungsram is proposing an answer to Elon Musk’s USD 6 billion offer to the United Nations World Food Program to alleviate world hunger. Indoor farming, food factories for Africa, and integrated food clusters for metropolitan areas are sustainable solutions to the global food crisis. Tungsram recently opened its R&D vertical farm in Budapest, the first of its kind in Central Europe.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk quickly responded to a challenge by UN World Food Program Director (WFP) David Beasley, who reportedly claimed that 2% of Elon Musk’s wealth could greatly help solve world hunger.

“If WFP can describe […] exactly how USD 6 bln will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it,” Musk wrote in a tweet, stipulating that the details must be “open-source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent.”

While the debate between the two continues, Hungarian mid-cap Tungsram has a proposal for WFP, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and the Tesla CEO.

“Indoor farming is the most viable solution to achieve this,” says Tungsram president & CEO Jörg Bauer, a former BBJ Expat CEO of the Year winner. “It is an exciting disruptive technology that balances on the thin line between agriculture, industry 4.0, and digital technology to provide feasible global solutions and produce staple food for large numbers of people, as well as integrated ecosystems that can feed animals in a sustainable manner.”

Since becoming independent from GE Lighting in 2018, Tungsram, a 125-year-old, innovative lighting and technology manufacturer, has been collaborating with academic and SME partners to develop indoor farming technologies in a quest to eliminate world hunger.

“Humanity will need to embrace sources of food that go beyond the traditional approach, such as algae, bacteria, and insects, which often have a much higher conversion rate of feed intake. By smartly combining different elements such as vertical farms, animal husbandry, insects, and fish, we can get very close to a zero-waste cluster with optimal productivity, allowing strategic autonomy even in countries with adverse climatic conditions,” Bauer insists.

The Tungsram team recently opened a 150 sqm vertical farm in Budapest to facilitate and advance research in this area. The facility, equipped with the company’s own high-end lighting solutions, is one of a kind in Central Europe.

The team is currently working on two indoor farming goals with its partners; both are deemed highly feasible. The projects focus on so-called food factory units for the African continent and zero-waste, circular food clusters. The food factories would cover basic nutritional needs (2,200 healthy calories plus 2.5 l of drinking water per person per day) in rural areas with an adverse climate, while the clusters would be located in the vicinity of large metropolitan areas to ensure decentralized food production locally.

“Establishing millions of these units could provide healthy and available food independent from weather or season, every single day of the year,” Bauer argues. He adds that the same technology is vital for Musk’s other big project, conquering Mars, where growing local food will be essential.

Global food security is one of humanity’s most pressing challenges and requires immense amounts of innovation and investment. The money the UN has requested from the world’s billionaires would have to be spent on solving several challenges that will pave the way to eventually building these units. One such challenge is a breakthrough in atmospheric water capture that could provide water in climate-stricken, arid areas.

Accelerated breeding that could make plants grow quicker and richer in nutrients without genetic modification is yet another innovation that would be a giant leap toward food security. Research and development in fertilizing, energy storage, remote operation, and automation is also a prerequisite to success.

Bauer says he is convinced that economies of scale could become food security powerhouses; developing and scaling solutions will allow the citizens of developing countries to live a sustainable and worthwhile life in their home regions. Governments and businesses should provide funding for research and innovation to scale food security. This same logic has already proved viable with batteries for electric cars, also an innovation by Elon Musk. “I’m ready to share the details of our plan with WFP, FAO, and Mr. Musk himself,” says Bauer.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
A monster hit and a billion-dollar toy empire
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
Canada: Nurse Suspended and Fined 93 Thousand Dollars After Stating the World’s Most Well-Known Fact Since the Creation of Adam and Eve, That There Are Only Two Genders
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
U.S. Treasury Secretary Whitney Bessent Backs Stablecoins to Boost Treasury Demand
Spain to Declare Disaster Zones After Massive Wildfires
Three-Minute Battery Swap Touted as Future of EVs
Beijing Military Parade to Showcase Weapons Advances
U.S. Tech Stocks Slide on AI Boom Concerns
White House Confirms Talks Over Intel Stake
Trump Suggests U.S. Could Support Ukraine ‘By Air’
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
UK Government Tries to Sue 4chan for Breaching Online Safety Act
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
"Every Centimeter of Your Body Is a Masterpiece": The Shocking Meta Document Revealed
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
China Requires Data Centres to Source Majority of AI Chips Locally, For Technological Sovereignty
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
Jellyfish Swarm Triggers Shutdown at Gravelines Nuclear Power Station in Northern France
OpenAI’s ‘PhD-Level’ ChatGPT 5 Stumbles, Struggles to Even Label a Map
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×