The world faces enormous water and food security challenges. By 2050 an additional 2 billion people need to be fed and combined with changing diets it is expected that food production will need to increase by 60%. At the same time a large part of agricultural production takes place in water-stressed areas while changing diets require more water for the same amount of calories. In this talk the three speakers will discuss how the water and food security challenges can be addressed from their perspectives. This is followed by a panel discussion on the impending water and food security challenges and the role of think tanks and research institutes in bringing a positive change to a looming crisis situation.