PLAYA VISTA, CA (October 27, 2009) – The X PRIZE Foundation, an educational non-profit that designs and administers competitions with prizes of $10 million or more, has announced a partnership with The Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington to launch the X PRIZE Lab@UW, an educational initiative designed to engage leading students to help recognize areas that are ripe for breakthrough innovation. The collaboration is the 2nd installment of the X PRIZE Lab, with the flagship program housed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This is also the first time the X PRIZE Foundation has collaborated with a graduate school of public policy and management. According to U.S. News & World Report, the Evans School is ranked 12th among American schools of public affairs, fifth in nonprofit management and policy, and fourth in environmental policy and management.

Expected to launch in January 2010, the quarter-long courses will enable graduate students to research the X PRIZE innovation and philanthropy model and produce ideas and criteria for new X PRIZES. Each course will focus on a single topic from one of the four areas that the X PRIZE Foundation recognizes as some of the world’s biggest challenges – Exploration (Space and Ocean); Life Sciences; Energy & Environment; and Education & Global Development. Additional laboratory work could also address water resource management. At the end of each course, students will present their ideas to senior X PRIZE Foundation leaders and members of its Board of Trustees.

“We want to create innovative ways for students to approach problems and the Evans School is the perfect place to do it,” said Francis Beland, Vice President of Prize Development, X PRIZE Foundation. “We believe that in the X PRIZE laboratory, UW students will extend the idea of incentivized problem solving.”

“The X PRIZE laboratory here at the UW will tap into Evans School strengths in interdisciplinary public policy as well as regional strengths in science, technology and public management,” said Sandra O. Archibald, dean of the Evans School.
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“The UW is a leading public research university, so work with the X PRIZE is appropriate,” said Ann Bostrom, a professor and associate dean for research at the Evans School. “The UW is strong in science and technology and has an internationally recognized policy program. Work with the X PRIZE Foundation also fits very well with the Evans School’s interest in philanthropy; the school operates the Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy.”

UW graduate, Nelson Del Rio, was instrumental in the development of the partnership between the X PRIZE Foundation and the Evans School. Additionally, The Del Rio Family Foundation has donated funds to the Evans School in order to facilitate development of the X PRIZE LAB@UW.

“The Evans School is a national leader in policy issues,” Del Rio said. “I believe it is the ideal home for the X PRIZE laboratory because of leadership, faculty, and students who understand the importance of incentives in solving complicated problems in interdisciplinary ways.”

Since its inception in 2007, the X PRIZE Laboratory program has been successful in creating viable prizes that address current grand challenges. The X PRIZE Lab@MIT, has produced groundbreaking work in the areas of global health and bionics. In spring 2008, students focused on developing prizes related to Global Health for the Developing World. One of the teams designed an X PRIZE for Rapid TB Detection. This work was put into full development by the X PRIZE Foundation with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

ABOUT THE X PRIZE FOUNDATION
The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. In 2004, the Foundation captured world headlines when Burt Rutan, backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, built and flew the world’s first private vehicle to space to win the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE. The Foundation has since launched the $10 million Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, and the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. The Foundation is creating and conducting competitions in four prize groups: Exploration (Space and Oceans), Life Sciences, Energy & Environment, and Education & Global Development. The Foundation is widely recognized as the leader in fostering innovation through competition. For more information, please visit www.xprize.org.

ABOUT THE EVANS SCHOOL
The Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington is the pre-eminent graduate school of public policy and management in the Northwest, and ranks nationally in the top tier of graduate schools in its field. For more information, please visit www.evans.washington.edu.

Additional contact: Ann Bostrom, 206-685-8198/ abostrom@uw.edu.