Prize Development
The Prize Development department designs incentive competitions aimed to capture the imagination of the public, spur innovation, and accelerate the rate of positive change across the globe. New prize competitions focus on pushing the limit of what is currently possible and will serve to change the ways in which we see ourselves and how we live on this planet..
There are two types of X PRIZE competitions: the X PRIZE and the X CHALLENGE:
An X PRIZE is an award of $10 million or more given to the first team to achieve a specific goal, set by the X PRIZE Foundation, which has the potential to positively impact individuals around the world. Rather than awarding money to honor past achievements or directly funding research, an X PRIZE incites innovation by tapping into our competitive and entrepreneurial spirits.
An X CHALLENGE, on the other hand, is a prize of up to $2.5 million, awarded for solving a well-defined technical problem that has no clear path to a solution or is perceived as difficult. Unlike an X PRIZE, which seeks to stimulate or catalyze an entire market, an X CHALLENGE seeks to produce a breakthrough technological or behavioral solution to a specific market need.
Both the X PRIZE and the X CHALLENGE can be developed in one of four different Prize Groups: Exploration (Space & Deep Ocean); Energy & Environment; Education & Global Development; and Life Sciences.
Education and Global Development
The Education and Global Development Prize Group will focus on finding methods that catalyze profit-generating firms both in terms of financial as well as human development metrics that address major development challenges in agriculture, capital, education, health and water. The goal of these competitions would be to highlight the most scalable enterprises that create wealth and uplift the widest set of stakeholders from poverty.
Energy and Environment
The Energy and Environment Prize Group includes the development of prizes that will end our addiction to oil and stem the harmful effects of climate change. We are looking for breakthroughs in clean fuels, renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, carbon reduction, and sustainable housing.
Exploration
The vision of the Exploration Prize Group is to expand the use of space, the ocean and other unexplored frontiers in order to improve life on Earth and extend life beyond the confines of land. We believe we can achieve these objectives by researching space and Earth’s oceans; accessing and conserving their resources; catalyzing private, non-governmental activity; and tapping into our innate wonder about the Earth, the Universe and our place within each.
Life Sciences
The Life Sciences Prize Group will focus on creating competitions that will stimulate innovative breakthroughs in molecular biology, stem cell research, bionics; organogenesis, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence in order to improve health care and extend healthy living. The X PRIZE Foundation looks to accelerate the real-world impact of science, technology, and information related to the worldwide optimization of health and the elimination of illness and disease.
