Prizes
Innovation needs prizes. Prizes have, throughout history, proven to be an exceptional mechanism to generate and empower innovation. History is replete with examples. Lindberg crossed the Atlantic to win a prize offered by French hotelier Raymond Ortig, and his doing so launched the multibillion dollar aviation industry, changing our access to the world. The X PRIZE Foundation caused the first private rocketship, a manned vehicle, to reach outer space, a feat considered impossible. Darpa even used a prize to cause significant innovation in the area of autonomous vehicles, advancing the science by a decade.
We can apply the power and success of prizes to environmental challenges.
Resources & Downloads
| Document Title | File Type |
|---|---|
| X PRIZE Vision Video |  |
| Technology Prizes for Climate Change Mitigation |  |
| Stanford Business School Case Study | |
| Super Efficient Refrigerator Program Profile #106 | |
Inducement Prizes
Recognition prizes (such as the Nobel Prizes) look backward, rewarding past achievements. Inducement prizes look forward, directing effort at a desired outcome. Prize Capital, LLC works with Prize Awarding Entities who produce inducement prizes.
Large inducement prizes drive innovation, with significant advantages:
- Traditional research and development continually funds investigation of root causes and new technology…but without a guarantee of results, investors never know when or if, the desired result will be achieved
- Recognition prizes acknowledge brilliant breakthroughs in the past…but do not drive us forward to the solutions needed for our future
- Venture capital may limit development of solutions that do not immediately demonstrate the high financial returns required to payback early investors
- Most investment does not look outside its existing circle of players for solutions, ignoring the potential cross-boundary breakthroughs that may emerge – for example - as mathematicians look at genetic code as an algorithm, bringing fresh eyes to an existing field
- Prizes generate excitement, momentum and media – attracting the best competitors, as well as increasing public awareness.
Inducement prizes clearly define a desired outcome, without dictating the means to achieve it. You only pay for the desired results!